HAEMATOLOGICAL INDICES OF RABBIT FED GRADED LEVELS OF MORINGA OLEIFERA LEAF MEAL

Abstract

A total of forty-five (45) cross-bred rabbits (New Zealand x Dutch) were fed for ten weeks with graded levels of Moringa oleifera Leaf Meal (MOLM) to determine their haematologicalindices. The rabbits were between six and seven weeks of age with initial body weights of 51 1.1 lg. They were caged individually and allotted to five different dietary treatments in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) in groups of nine rabbits per treatment. Each treatment had three replicates having three rabbits each. The treatments consisted diets 1 (control), 2, 3, 4 and 5 having graded levels of MOLM at 0, 5, 10, 15 and 20% respectively. Results obtained showed that, there were no significant (P>0.05) differences in initial body weight and daily weight gain, but significant differences (P<0.05) were observed in final body weight, daily feed intake and feed conversion ratio. Similarly, Haematological indices showed no significant (P>0.05) differences for most of the parameters measured.It can be concluded that feeding MOLM up to 20% had positive effect on the performance of rabbits, especially feed intake and final live weight. The haematological Indices parameters indicated that there were no significant differences among the treatment groups in all the parameters.