Combined Effects of Dietary Gum Arabic and Mannan Oligosaccharides on Growth Performance, Physiological Responses, Meat Quality, and Selected Cecal Bacteria in Growing New Zealand White Rabbits

The interest in dietary prebiotics in rabbit production has increased as a consequence of the search for natural alternatives to antibiotic growth promoters. This study was conducted to evaluate the individual and combined effects of gum Arabic and mannan oligosaccharides on growth performance, physiological health, meat quality and cecal bacterial populations of growing New Zealand White rabbits. Eighty rabbits (5 weeks of age) were randomly allocated to four dietary treatments, for a period of 8 weeks: basal diet (control), basal diet supplemented with gum Arabic (2 g/kg), mannan oligosaccharides (2 g/kg) or their combination (2 + 2 g/kg). The dietary supplementation significantly improved the final body weight, body weight gain, feed conversion ratio, carcass yield, serum protein profile, selected serum biochemical indicators related to hepatic and renal status, lipid profile, antioxidant status, immune response, meat quality and cecal microbial balance as compared to the control group. The combined treatment always produced the best improvements with better growth performance, less abdominal fat, higher antioxidant enzyme activity, higher immunoglobulin concentrations, better water-holding capacity and cooking characteristics of meat, higher populations of beneficial Lactobacillus and lower Escherichia coli counts. The combined treatment produced the most favorable responses for several measured variables, although the magnitude and statistical significance of the response varied among traits. These findings suggest that GA and MOS may have potential as dietary supplements for modulating selected productive, physiological, meat-quality, and cecal bacterial parameters in growing rabbits.