UTILIZING FARM WASTE IN RABBITS’ DIETS

Investigation was conducted on the utilization of farm waste (Maize cob) on growth performance, serum and hematological parameters of rabbits in an 84 days feeding trial. Forty-five rabbits (New Zealand x California) breed, 4 weeks old weighing about 460-480g were allotted into five dietary treatments having nine rabbits per treatment and three replicates of three rabbits each. The diets contained treated maize cob (TMC) at five (0, 25, 50, 75 and 100 %) levels of substitution for wheat offal in a completely randomized designed experiment. Performances data were harvested weekly while blood collection was on 84th day for blood profile analysis. Data obtained were subjected to analysis of variance. Daily weight gain (7.44g) was highest (p<0.05) among rabbits fed treated maize cob with better feed conversion ratio (5.23) in rabbit fed 50% treated maize cob (TMC) as substitute for wheat offal. Similarly, Packed cell volume (PCV) and red blood cell (RBC) increased (P<0.05) for rabbits fed diets containing 50, 75 and 100% TMC. Dietary substitution of TMC irrespective of the levels resulted in higher hemoglobin (Hb) (P<0.05) than the control diet. The lymphocyte count (69.70%) and mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH) (23.06g/dl) was highest (P<0.05) for rabbits fed diets containing 75% TMC whereas substitution of 100% TMC in the rabbit’s diet gave the highest (P<0.05) total protein (5.20 g/dl), Serum globulin (1.80g/dl) and glucose (101.20mg/dl). It was concluded that rabbit can tolerate substitution of wheat offal with TMC for increased weight gain, better feed efficiency without compromising their health status.