Performance and blood profile of rabbits fed biodegraded -sweet orange (<i>Citrus sinensis</i>) 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