Performance and blood profile of rabbits fed biodegraded -sweet orange (Citrus sinensis) peel based diets

Abstract

The study assessed the performance of grower rabbits fed biodegraded sweet orange peel based diets. Thirty six (36) grower rabbits of mixed breed between 5 to 7 weeks old were randomly assigned to six (6) dietary treatments replicated 6 times in a completely randomized design. Biodegraded sweet orange peel was prepared by fermenting a mixture of sweet orange peel (SOP) and bovine rumen filtrate in ratios 10kg SOP: 2 litre filtrate (T₁), 10kg SOP: 4 litre filtrate (T₂), 10kg SOP: 6 litre filtrate (T₃), 10kg SOP: 8 litre filtrate (T₄), 10kg SOP: 10 litre filtrate (T₅) for 48hours and sun dried. Each of T₁, T₂, T₃, T₄, and T5was used to replace 30% maize in the control diet to obtain five biodegraded SOP based diets. Parameters determined were feed intake, body weight gain, water consumption, feed conversion ratio (FCR), water: feed ratio, PCV, RBC, WBC, Hb, MCV, MCH, MCHC, serum total protein, albumin, globulin, cholesterol, creatinine, alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase. Diets had significant effect (p<0.05) on daily water consumption of rabbits, but no significant effect (p>0.05) on final body weight, feed intake, body weight gain and FCR. No significant effect (p>0.05) was observed on any of PCV, RBC, WBC, Hb, MCV, MCH, MCHC but serum alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase differed significantly (p<0.05). Rabbits can be fed with diet in which 30% maize is replaced, with biodegraded SOP obtained from 48 hours fermentation of SOP when mixed with bovine rumen filtrate, at ratio 1:1 to obtain a superior growth performance.

Keyword: Orange peel, Biodegradation, Rabbit, Performance, Blood profile