BLOOD AND SERUM CHARACTERISTICS OF GROWING RABBITS (Oryctolagus cuniculus) FED PLANTAIN LEAF MEAL AS A DIETARY SUPPLEMENT

Abstract

This research was done to ascertain the effect of plantain leaf meal supplement on the blood and serum characteristics of growing Oryctolagus cuniculus. A ten (10) week feeding trial was carried out using twenty-four (24) growing rabbits of Chinchilla Breed having an age range of 7 to 9 weeks and initial average weight range of 610.14 to 624.49g. A well structured Completely Randomized Design (CRD) was used with four treatments of six experimental animals each. They were replicated into three (3) of two (2) rabbits in each. The control treatment (diet 1) had no plantain leaf meal supplement (PLMS) while diets 2, 3 and 4 had 200, 300 and 400g of plantain leaf meal supplement (PLMS) respectively. Result on the blood parameters revealed that white blood cell, packed cell volume, haemoglobin and mean corpuscular volume were significantly (P<0.05) imparted while red blood cell, mean corpuscular haemoglobin, and mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration were not significantly (P>0.05) influenced by the treatment diets. Alanine aminotransferase, total protein and cholesterol were shown to be significantly (P<0.05) affected whereas aspartate amino transferase, albumin, globulin, creatinine and urea were not significantly (P>0.05) by the experimental diets. The blood and serum indices in this research deduced that they were within ranges for normal wellbeing of the animals suggesting that the experimental ingredient was tolerated