HISTOLOGICAL CHANGES IN TESTIS OF RABBIT BUCKS FED WITH DIET CONTAINING RAW OR FERMENTED COTTONSEED CAKE SUPPLEMENTED WITH GINGER

Résumé

The aim of this study was to evaluate the histological changes in testis of rabbit bucks (New Zealand White X Chinchilla) fed with raw or fermented cottonseed cake (CSC) - based diets supplemented with ginger. Solid state fermentation (SSF) was employed to biodegrade CSC using Aspergilus niger. Thirty (30) weaner rabbit bucks aged between 5 - 6 weeks were acclimatized for two weeks and allocated to five dietary treatments with equal number of animals (n=6) per treatment in a 2x2 factorial arrangement within a completely randomized design (CRD). Treatment 1, (control) had soybean meal (SBM) as protein source; other four treatments were divided into two groups. The first group comprised raw or fermented CSC without ginger supplementation while the second group comprised raw or fermented CSC with ginger supplementation. The SBM was completely replaced with CSC weight for weight in the four treatments. Ginger was supplemented at a dosage of 30mg/kg diet. Feeding trial lasted for 12 weeks. Testis samples were processed for histological evaluation. The photomicrographs of the testis revealed that feeding raw CSC diets without ginger supplementation resulted in severe testicular damage. Either the fermentation of CSC by A. niger or ginger supplementation, or their combination exhibited the potential to greatly ameliorate the adverse effects. It was therefore, concluded that feeding CSC to rabbit buck intended for breeding purpose should either be fermented with A. niger or supplemented with ginger or their combination