
Blood chemistry and relative organ weights of rabbits fed neem leaf meal based diets
Author(s) -
I. P. Ogbuewu,
C. T. Ezeokeke,
I. C. Okoli,
M. U. Iloeje
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
nigerian journal of animal production
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 0331-2062
DOI - 10.51791/njap.v42i2.2633
Subject(s) - meal , body weight , zoology , biology , completely randomized design , endocrinology , food science
Two experiments were conducted to determine the effect of neem leaf meal (NLM) based diets on blood and relative organ weight characteristics of rabbits. In the first experiment, 36 rabbit bucks aged 7 to 8 months were distributed into four dietary groups, T1, T2, T3 and T4 of 9 rabbits using completely randomized design. Each group was replicated 3 times with 3 rabbits per replicate. Rabbits in T1 group were fed diet that contained 0% NLM while those in T2 T3 and T4 groups were fed diets that contained NLM at 5%, 10% and 15%, respectively for 112 days. In the second experiment, 36 rabbit does were used and experimental procedures were laid out as described in experiment 1. Blood samples for analysis, live weight and organ weights were collected from each replicate and data obtained analysed statistically. Higher (p 0.05) on haematological parameters was observed among all treatments except for MCV and neutrophils which were significantly (p 0.05). It was therefore concluded that up to 5% of neem leaf meal can be included in the diet of pubertal rabbits without any deleterious effects on their organs and blood characteristics.