EFFECT OF DRIED VARIETIES OF RHIZOMES AND BULBS ON GROWTH AND HAEMATOLOGICAL INDICES OF GROWING HYLA RABBITS

Abstract

A nine-week study was conducted to evaluate performance and haematological indices of growing rabbits fed dried varieties of rhizomes and bulbs based-diets. Thirty (30) rabbits were assigned to five dietary treatments in triplicate of six (6) rabbits/treatment to contain T1 (control), T2 (dried ginger), T3 (dried turmeric), T4 (dried garlic) and T 5 (dried onions) respectively in a completely randomized design. Data were collected on performance traits. Blood samples were collected for haematological analysis. The results obtained for performance showed that there were significant (P<0.05) difference in final weight, weight gain, average daily

weight gain and feed conversion ratio. Final weight gain had higher (P<0.05) value in T 1 while T 4 had the least value. For weight gain, the highest (P<0.05) value was recorded on T 1 , followed by T 2 and T 5 , while T 3 and T 4 had lowest values respectively. Similar trend was obtained for average daily weight. However, for the feed conversion ratio, T 1 and T 2 had the least significant values. Haematological analysis showed significant (P<0.05) difference in white blood cells and mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration (MCHC) among all parameters assessed. For white blood cell, the highest (P<0.05) values were recorded on T 1 and T 4, followed by T 3 and T 5 while T 2 had the least value. MCHC recorded highest (P<0.05) value for T 5 followed by T 1 , T 2 and T 3 while the least value was obtained in T 4 (dried garlic It is therefore concluded that the inclusion of dried rhizomes and bulbs does not have detrimental effect on the growth and haematological parameters of growing hyla rabbits.