Comparison of the Performance, Haematology and Serum Chemistry of Rabbits fed Supplementary Antibiotics and Leucaena leucocephala

Abstract

A comparison of four nutrition-based strategies to improve rabbit performance and health was the objective of this study. Two antibiotics: tylosin and Neoteramycin at 100 mg kg-1 and Leucaena leucocephala forage served fresh at 50 g/day were added to experimental diets for rabbits. The control diet contained neither antibiotic nor forage supplement, and each diet was fed ad libitum to ten individually caged rabbits for 70 days. Performance of rabbits was determined weekly, while haematology and blood chemistry were determined terminally. The results showed that all the rabbits fed the supplements had superior (P<0.05) growth rate, feed intake and feed conversion to the control group. The haemoglobin concentration, haematocrit and leucocytes were highest (P<0.05) in rabbits fed Leucaena leucocephala forage followed by antibiotic supplement and lowest in the control. Activities of aspartate and alanine amino transferase were highest (P<0.05) in the leucaenea fed rabbits followed by neoteramycin and tylosin respectively and lowest in the control group. The same trend was paralleled by results on total protein, albumin, globulin and creatinine. These data suggest that all the supplements have growth promoting effects in rabbits and differently modulate the blood chemistry. However, feeding supplemental leucaena forage is highly recommended since it neither contains chemicals nor antibiotics.

Journal of Agriculture and Food Sciences Vol. 3 (2) 2005 pp. 101-109