HAEMATOLOGICAL AND SERUM BIOCHEMICAL INDICES OF WEANER RABBITS FED GRADED LEVELS OF MORINGA OLEIFERA LEAF MEAL

Abstract

A total of forty eight (48) weaner rabbits of mixed breeds, with initial average live weight of 760g were randomly allocated into four (4) experimental dietary treatments and replicated three (3) times with four (4) rabbits per replicate. The rabbits were fed diets containing 0%, 15%, 30%, and 45% Moringa oleifera leaf meal in diets. The experimental diets and clean drinking water were supplied ad libitum throughout the experimental periods of 10 weeks. All data generated were subjected to one-way analysis of variance. The result of this experiment showed no significant (p>0.05) difference among the treatments for all the haematological parameters except on white blood cell concentration whose value(4.27-7.33*1 OA) was however within the normal range for healthy rabbits, while alkaline phosphatase, aspartate aminotransferase and Glucose were significantly (p<0.05) influenced among the serum indices. Therefore, it could be concluded that inclusion of Moringa oleifera leaf meal in the diets of weaner rabbits up to 45% has no adverse effect on blood profile of rabbits.