GROWTH PERFORMANCE AND SEMEN CHARACTERISTICS OF MONGREL RABBIT BUCKS FED DIETARY LEVELS OF GARLIC (ALLUM SATIVUM) MEAL

This study was designed to evaluate the effect of garlic meal supplementation on growth performance and semen characteristics in rabbit bucks. Twenty-four (24) mixed breed rabbit bucks were used for this study. The bucks were allowed to acclimatize for two weeks before the commencement of the study, during this period, they were fed formulated diet and Calopogonium ad-libitum. Feed and clean drinking water were offered ad libitum to the experimental animals. Four different experimental diets were formulated with varying levels of 0.00, 0.50, 1.00 and 1.50% garlic meal as supplement and were coded as T1, T2, T3 and T4 respectively, with as control. The 24 bucks were weighed and randomly allotted into the four experimental treatments and replicated thrice with two rabbit bucks per replicate in a complete randomized design (CRD) for a period of 8 weeks. At the end of the feeding period, semen collection was done using a specially designed artificial vagina for rabbits. The data obtained were subjected to one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) procedure using IBM Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 21. The result showed that garlic meal had significant effect (P<0.05) on final weight, total and daily feed intake. Garlic significantly influenced (p<0.05) sperm volume, motility, concentration and total cells per ejaculate however, did not affect sperm morphology. In conclusion, garlic meal supplementation at 1.0% (10g/kg) can improve some growth and seminal parameters in male rabbits.