Growth performance, carcass and hematological characteristics of rabbits fed graded levels of tiger nuts (Cyperus esculentus)

Abstract

This experiment was conducted with the aim of investigating the effect of tiger nuts (Cypers esculentus) rejects on the growth performance, carcass weight and hematological parameters of weaner rabbits. Three experimental diets were formulated with Diets A being a commercial growers’ mash as control diet; Diet B: 5% parts of Tiger nuts (Cyperus esculentus) +95% parts of Diet A; Diet C: 10% parts of Tiger nuts (Cyperus esculentus) +90% parts of Diet A. The effects of dietary treatments on feed intake, body weight gain and feed conversion ratio were not significant (p>0.05). The dressing percentage ranged from 66.87 to 75.92% and was significantly (p<0.05) affected by dietary treatments. The effects of diets A and B were similar and significantly (p<0.05) higher than diet C. Hematological parameters showed no significant (p>0.05) difference between treatments. Results demonstrated that (Cyperus esculentus) could be used up to 5% in rabbit’s diets without adverse effect on the animals’ performance and health.