FEED INTAKE AND HORMONAL (PROGESTERONE, OESTRADIOL AND TESTOSTERONE) PROFILES OF ADULT RABBITS FED GROUNDNUT AND MORINGA LEAF MEAL DIETS

Abstract

Sixty adult Hyla crossbred (New Zealand White X Chinchilla) rabbits; made up of thirty males and females, 7 months old, with average weight of 3.50 kg were randomly allocated to treatments in a completely randomized design. The treatments were made of concentrate (control), groundnut and moringa forage meal diets constituted by replacing 10 or 20% of the concentrate diet with the forages and supplied at 150 g/rabbit/day. Water was supplied ad libitum. Blood samples were collected from three rabbits per treatment and used for hormonal profiling (progesterone, oestradiol and testosterone). Results showed that feed intake at weeks 9 and 22 of study were significantly (P<0.05) higher for adult rabbits fed groundnut and moringa forage meal diets than concentrate diet. Progesterone and oestradiol concentrations were lower in adult rabbits fed groundnut forage meal diet than in the concentrate and moringa forage meal diets fed rabbits. Testosterone concentration was higher in adult rabbits fed the concentrate diet than those fed groundnut and moringa forage meal diets. It is concluded that both forages can adequately replace the concentrate in adult rabbit diets without affecting reproductive performance while increasing feed intake.