Mangiferin as a nutritional strategy to enhance growth performance, feed efficiency, and physiological well-being in heat-stressed growing rabbits

This study is the first to investigate the effects of mangiferin (MGF) supplementation on growth performance, feed efficiency, and health of heat-stressed growing rabbits. A total of 120 APRI male rabbits (5 weeks old) were divided into four groups (30 per group) and fed diets containing 0, 50, 100, or 200 mg MGF/kg. Rabbits were housed in pairs within galvanised cages, with each cage serving as an independent experimental replicate. MGF supplementation linearly improved body weight, feed conversion ratio, physiological responses, dressing percentage, and edible giblet weights. Moreover, MGF supplementation was associated with a linear increase in hematological parameters, total blood proteins and their fractions, along with a linear decrease in blood glucose, total bilirubin, alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, creatinine, tumour necrosis factor-alpha, immunoglobulin A, G, and M, catalase, superoxide dismutase, and malondialdehyde levels. No significant differences were observed between the MGF100 and MGF200 treated groups. In addition, uric acid, triglycerides, total cholesterol, interferon-γ, interleukin-4 and −6, nuclear factor kappa B, serum amyloid A, and protein carbonyl levels showed a quadratic decrease. Conversely, total antioxidant capacity, lysozyme activity, and glutathione peroxidase exhibited a quadratic increase, with the optimal effect observed at a dietary MGF level of 150 mg/kg. MGF supplementation also alleviated heat stress-induced liver and kidney damage, restoring normal hepatic and renal morphology. Hydrophobic interactions with antioxidant enzymes and cytokines reduced oxidative stress. Overall, supplementation with 100–150 mg/kg MGF enhanced growth, feed efficiency, organ function, immune response, antioxidant defense, and inflammation control in heat-stressed rabbits.