FEEDING VALUE OF PROCESSED POULTRY LITTER AS A REPLACEMENT FOR SOYBEAN MEAL ON GROWTH PERFORMANCE AND BLOOD INDICES OF GROWING RABBITS

Abstract

The influence of feeding processed poultry litter (PPL) containing diets to rabbits for 56 days on their growth efficiency and blood profile was studied. Four diets: control (CON-0%), low level (LL-7%), medium level (ML-14%) and high level (HL-21%) were formulated to contain PPL at 0%, 7%, 14% and 21%, respectively. A total of 24 New Zealand rabbits weighing 412.5g on average were randomly assigned the four diets, each with six animals in a completely randomized design. Feed intake, body weight gain and feed conversion ratio were measured weekly. Blood was drawn from each animal on the last day of the trial to evaluate hematological and serum biochemical parameters. Platelet were higher at CON-0% and LL-7% and WBC was best at CON-0%. Serum globulin was significantly (P<0.05) higher at CON-0%. Albumin was significantly (P<0.05) higher at CON-0% and LL-7%. Total protein and creatinine showed significantly (P<0.05) lower values at HL-21%. Urea values were significantly (P<0.05) influenced with HL-21% having the highest value. All the blood parameters were within the normal range for clinically healthy rabbits. CON-0% produced the overall best performance. Still, PPL-containing diets were not detrimental to rabbit production, hence could be recommended for rabbit production for a shorter-term feeding regime.