Physiological Responses of Rabbit Bucks Fed Diets Containing Cotton Seed Cake Supplemented with Carrot (Daucus Carota) or Ginger (Zingiber Officinale)

Abstract

Twenty-four (24) weaner rabbit bucks, aged 6 – 7 weeks were used to investigate the physiological responses of rabbit bucks fed diets containing cottonseed cake supplemented with carrot or ginger. The bucks were allotted to four (4) dietary treatments of six (6) rabbits each. The treatment diets (T₁, T₂, T₃ and T₄) contained 16% crude protein such that soyabean meal (SBM) was the main protein source for the control diet (T₁). In T₂, the SBM was completely replaced with Cottonseed cake (CSC). In T₃ (CSC + Carrot), 5g/ kg diet of carrot was added to the composition in T₂; while in T₄ (CSC + Ginger), 5g/ kg diet of ginger was added to the composition in T₂. Animals were fed for nine (9) weeks after which blood was collected for both haematological and serum biochemical analyses. The haematological variables determined were Packed Cell Volume (PCV), Red Blood Cell count (RBC), Haemoglobin concentration (Hb), Platelet count, White Blood Cell count (WBC) and the differential counts. The haematological indices, Mean Corpuscular Haemoglobin (MCH), Mean Corpuscular Volume (MCV), and Mean Corpuscular Haemoglobin Concentration (MCHC), were also determined. The serum biochemical variables determined included total protein, albumin, urea, creatinine, aspartate transaminase (AST), alanine transaminase (ALT), cholesterol, triglyceride and glucose. The results indicated that lymphocytes, neutrophils and platelet counts were significantly (P<0.05) affected by treatment. Lymphocyte count for T₄ (CSC + Ginger) was significantly (P<0.05) higher (78.0%) than for other treatments which were not significantly different from one another. Neutrophils for T₄ was significantly (P<0.05) lower (18.0%) than for others (29.0; 30.7 and 30.7% for T₁, T₂ and T₃ respectively). Platelet count was significantly (P<0.05) depressed by CSC (T₂). Albumin and urea were depressed (P<0.05) by CSC (T₂) and CSC + Ginger (T₄). Creatinine was significantly (P<0.05) elevated by T₃ (1.24mg/dl). The AST and ALT increased significantly (P<0.05) from 20.77 to 43.30 iu/L and 21.42 to 43.17 iu/L, respectively in T₁ and T₄. Cholesterol level was significantly (P<0.05) higher for T₂ than for other treatments. It was concluded that CSC had adverse effects on the serum biochemical parameters of rabbit bucks. Carrot or ginger supplementation demonstrated a potential to correct the adverse effect with ginger exhibiting a greater influence, suggesting the need to always supplement CSC-based diets for rabbits with either of the products to safeguard the health of the animals.

Keywords: Haematology, Serum biochemistry, cottonseed cake, carrot, Ginger, Rabbit buck.