Utilization of whole pods of Albizia saman in diets of growing rabbits

Abstract

The effect of graded levels of whole pods of Albizia saman (Rain tree) on the performance nutrient utilization and haematology of growing rabbits were studied. Four experimental diets were formulated which contained 100, 200 and 300g whole pods of A. saman of diet. Forty-eight growing hybrid rabbits with average initial weight of 828.2g were used for the experiment. They were alloted on weight equalization basis to four dietary treatments that is 12 animals per treatment. The animals were housed individually and fed ad libitum with the respective diets through the eight weeks experimental period. Data on body weight, feed intake, feed to gain ratio and protein efficiency ratio were monitored. Metabolic trials were also carried out in the course of the experiment and the digestibility of dry matter and the proximate contents of the feed were determined. Some haematological indices of the experimental animals were also assayed, these include: packed cell volume, haemoglobin, red blood cells, white blood cells, serum total protein, serum albumin and serum creatine. Results showed that the dietary treatments had significant effect (P<0.05) on body weight, feed intake, feed to gain ratio and protein efficiency ratio. Rabbits fed 100g kg^-1 A. saman diet had similar performance with those on the control diet (0g kg^-1 A. saman) and performed better (P<0.05) than those fed 200g kg^-1 and 300g kg^-1 A. saman diets. The digestibility values of dry matter and other proximate fractions of the dietary treatments were not significantly different (P>0.05). However, when only the A. saman diets were considered, rabbits fed 100g kg^-1 had the highest but non-significant digestibility values for all the measurement taken. The mean values for packed cell volume, haemoglobin, serum total protein and serum albumin decreased with increasing level of inclusion of A. saman. There was no significant difference (P>0.05) in the values of red blood cells and serum creatine. It was concluded that inclusion of whole pods of A. saman up to 100g kg^-1 level in the diets of growing rabbits gave best results with no adverse effect on performance and nutrient digestibility.