Effects of dried water melon and sweet orange peel (dwmop) meal mixture on the haematological and serum indices of growing rabbits
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Research Parks Publishing LLC
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The objective of the present study was to evaluate effects of dried water melon and sweet orange peel (dwmop) meal mixture on some haematological and serum indices of growing rabbits. A total of sixty rabbits 7-8 weeks old with an average weight of 630 – 645 g were randomly divided into five (5) dietary treatments with three (3) replicates and four rabbits per replicate in a Completely Randomized Design (CRD). The dietary treatments include a control diet with no DWMOP in (T1), T2 (5.0% DWMOP), T3 (10.0 % DWMOP), T4 (15.0 % DWMOP) and T5 (20.0 % DWMOP) respectively. Feed and water were offered ad libitum throughout the experiment which lasted for 12 weeks. Data obtained were used to evaluate the haematological parameters (PCV, RBC, Hb, MCV, MCH , MCHC, WBC and its differentials ), some serum biochemical indices (Albumin, globulin, total protein, creatinine, bilirubin, AST and ALT). All the haematological parameters measured were significantly (P˂0.05) different among the treatments. Total protein, bilirubin and creatinine values were not significantly (P˃0.05) influenced by DWMOP, however, glucose level and activities of ALP and AST were significantly (P˂0.05) affected by DWMOP. It was concluded that inclusion of DWMOP at 20 % in the diet of rabbits does not have any deleterious effect on the health status of the animal.
Keywords
Growing rabbits, Agro industrial by-products, haematology, serum indices