ANTIOXIDANT SUPPLEMENTATION EFFECTS IN ANIMALS: FINDINGS FROM PREPUBERTAL, PREGNANT, LACTATING AND NON-BREEDING RABBITS

Résumé

Antioxidant supplementation can alleviate stress arising from the environment, production systems, and animal functional metabolic activities at different physiological stages. Therefore, in this study, a microalga known as Chlorella vulgaris was supplemented to rabbits as an antioxidant at different physiological stages while their performances and oxidative stress attenuation mechanisms were monitored. In the prepubertal and gestation phases, forty rabbits were investigated; in the lactation phase, 35 rabbits with equal number of kits were studied while in the non-reproducing phase, forty rabbits were studied. At each phase of the study, rabbits were divided into five groups and rabbits in each of the groups were individually supplemented with 0, 200, 300, 400 and 500 mg Chlorella vulgaris biomass per kg bodyweight as Control, T1, T2, T3, and T4 groups respectively. There was significant effect of the supplementation on the rabbits‘ weight gain (p < 0.05), reproductive index (p < 0.05), feed intake (p < 0.05), carcass traits and meat yield (p<0.05), antioxidant enzymes activities and gene expression patterns (p < 0.05). Evaluation of these outcomes led to the conclusion that the microalga supplementation led to improved performances of the rabbits and protected the rabbits against oxidative stress at different physiological reproductive stages, hence it was recommended as suitable antioxidant supplements for rabbits while its suitability as antioxidant in other food producing animals was suggested.