Impact of feeding programs and dietary coenzyme Q10 addition during fattening on the production performance and some physiological of growing rabbits

This study was designed to evaluate the role of feeding program (FP) and exogenous coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) and their interaction on productive performance and some physiological responses in growing rabbits during fattening period. In a 2×3 factorial experiment, 78 weaned NZW rabbits aged 35 days and weighed 663.14 g were randomly assigned to three FP. The first group was fed ad libitum to serve as a first FP1 whereas the second FP group (FP2) received 75% of diet at the morning and 25% of diet at the night; and the third feeding program (FP3) group received 25% of diet at the morning and 75 % of diet at the night. Animals of the three previous major groups were split into two subgroups, the first group was kept untreated to serve as a control, while the second subgroup fed orally with 10 mgCoQ10/Kg/dose. The obtained results illustrated that Growing rabbits belongs to FP3 group showed significantly (P < 0.05) the heaviest averages of all growth parameters in compared to those belongs to FP2 and FP1. It was found that oral administration of CoQ10 at a dose of 10 mg/kg body weight significantly increased all productive performance. Rabbits received CoQ10 caused a significant decrease in lipid profile as well as MDA levels and caused a significant increase in total antioxidant capacity. It has been concluded that CoQ10 and either FP2 or FP3 could be suitable management strategy for rabbits during fattening period through improving productive performance and blood metabolites and antioxidant status.