Basic HTML Version
International Journal of Molecular Veterinary Research
2012, Vol.2, No.3, 8
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http://ijmvr.sophiapublisher.com
9
for livestock (Makker and Becker, 1997; Sarwatt et
al., 2002).
The plant can be easily established in the field and it
has good potential for forage production. The plant
can be harvested several times in a single growing
season and also has potential for reducing cost of feed.
Hence, this study will help in determining the
percentage level of groundnut cake which
Moringa
oleifera
can successfully replace without causing any
deleterious effect on the rabbits.
1 Results
Growth performance of the grower rabbits fed
different levels of GNC replaced with MOLM is
shown in Table 1.
Final body weight showed significant difference
(
P
<0.05) between the treatment. The rabbits fed 60%
groundnut cake replaced with
Moringa oleifera
had
the highest final weight value of 2 216.2 g which was
statistically different (
P
<0.05) from all the other
treatments. The control (0), 80 and 100% groundnut
cake replaced with
Moringa oleifera
showed lower
final body weight which were comparable (
P
>0.05).
The weight gain of rabbits fed on the experimental
diets were significantly different (
P
<0.05). The rabbits
fed on 60% groundnut cake replaced with
Moringa
oleifera
had the highest body weight gain of 16.36 g
which was statistically comparable (
P
>0.05) to those
rabbits that fed on the 40% groundnut cake replaced
with
Moringa oleifera
that gain 14.76 g. The rabbits
fed on 0% (control) were statistically comparable
(
P
>0.05) to those that fed on 80 and 100% MOLM
with body weight gain values of 11.90 g, 10.33 g and
10.31 g respectively. The body weight gain of the
rabbits fed on 20% and 40% groundnut cake replaced
with
Moringa oleifera
were comparable (
P
>0.05) with
body weight gain values of 12.61 g and 14.76 g
respectively.
The feed intake values showed significant difference
(
P
<0.05) between the treatments. The rabbits fed on
40% groundnut cake replaced with
Moringa oleifera
had the highest (
P
<0.05) feed intake value of 78.5 g
which was significantly different from rabbits on other
treatments. The lowest feed intake value of 64.4 g
recorded at 100% MOLM was comparable (
P
>0.05)
to the feed intake value recorded at 80% MOLM. The
feed intake values showed a systematic increase from
0~40% levels of MOLM but later declined as more
groundnut cake was replaced with MOLM.
The feed to gain ratio showed that there were signi-
ficant difference (
P
<0.05) between the treatments. The
rabbits fed on 60% MOLM had the lowest (
P
<0.05)
feed to gain ratio of 4.39. The rabbits fed the 0
(control), 20% and 40% GNC replaced with MOLM
had comparable (
P
>0.05) feed to gain ratios of 5.88,
5.77 and 5.33 respectively. The rabbits fed on 80%
and 100% MOLM had the highest feed to gain ratio
values of 6.44 and 6.25 respectively which were
significantly comparable (
P
>0.05), but where higher
than the feed to gain ratio of other rabbits fed MOLM
diets. There was no mortality recorded on any
treatment during the experiment.
Table 2 shows the economic implications of feeding
rabbits with MOLM diets. The cost of feed (
N
/kg)
Table 1 Growth performance of grower rabbits fed
Moringa oleifera
leaf meal (MOLM)
Parameters
Levels of groundnut cake replaced with
Moringa oleifera
leaf meal (%)
SEM
0
20
40
60
80
100
Initial body weight (g/rabbit)
1 330
1 200
1 230
1 300
1 333
1 325
23.38
NS
Final body weight (g/rabbit)
1 981.1
bc
1 906.4
c
2 056.6
b
2 216.2
a
1 911.5
c
1 902.4
c
50.51
*
Weight gain (g/rabbit)
11.90
c
12.61
b
14.76
ab
16.36
a
10.33
c
10.31
c
0.99
*
Feed intake (g/rabbit)
70.0
b
72.7
b
78.5
a
71.8
b
66.5
c
64.4
c
2.03
*
Feed to gain ratio
5.88
b
5.77
b
5.31
b
4.39
c
6.44
a
6.25
a
0.30
*
Mortality
0
0
0
0
0
0
-
Note: SEM = Standard Error of Means; NS = Not significantly different (
P
>0.05); * = Significantly different (
P
<0.05); a,b,c = Means
in the same row with different superscript differ significantly (
P
<0.05)