EFFECT OF FEEDING DIFFERENTLY PROCESSED KIDNEY BEAN (PHASEOLUS VULGARIS) SEED MEAL ON THE VISCERAL ORGANS OF GROWER RABBITS

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to determine the effect of rabbits fed differently processed kidney bean (phaseolus vulgaris) seed meal for 42 days for grower rabbits. The kidney bean seeds were subjected to various processing methods. The different processed kidney bean seeds were analyzed for their proximate composition, amino acid profile and antinutritional factors. Five diets were compounded to contain 15% crude protein and 2300kcal/kg of metabolizable energy for the grower rabbits. 30 mixed breed rabbits of 5 and 6 weeks old were obtained from National Animal Production Research Institute (NAPRI) Zaria. The rabbits were allocated to 6 dietary treatments; T (0% as control diet), T2, T3, T4, T5 and T6 of raw, cooked, soaked, fermented and sprouted kidney bean seeds of five replicates with one rabbit per replicate in a completely randomized design. Feeds and water were given ad-libitum. The study was to determine the effect of differently processed kidney bean seed meal on the visceral organs of grower rabbits. Results showed that intestine weight, caecum length and kidney weight did not show any significant (p>0.05) difference. But significant (P<0.05) differences existed in the small intestine length, large intestine length, stomach weight, liver weight and heart weight of the animals, but all were similar to those fed the control diet. The result showed that the different processing
methods of the kidney bean seed meal does not affect the visceral organs of the animals so far they were similar to those fed the control diet.