Article Information

Yusuf AM*

Federal College of Wildlife Management, PMB 268, New Bussa, Niger State, Nigeria

^*Corresponding Author: Yusuf AM, Federal College of Wildlife Management, PMB 268, New Bussa, Niger State, Nigeria

Received: 10^th Feb-2019; Revised: 20^th Mar-2019; Accepted: 24^th Mar-2019

Copyright: ©2019 Yusuf AM. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited

Citation: Yusuf AM. Comparative Evaluation of Tridaxprocumbens, Khayasenegalensis and Senna Siamea as Supplements to Concentrate Diet on Growth Performance of Rabbits. International Journal of Plant, Animal and Environmental Sciences 9 (2019): 33-36.

Abstract

Keywords

Tridaxprocumbens; Khaya senegalensis; Senna siamea; Weight gain; Animal protein

Article Details

INTRODUCTION

Interest in rabbit production in Nigeria has increased dramatically due to increasing demand for animal protein. This is because rabbit is fast growing animal with short gestation period and short generation interval. More so, there are no religious prohibitions preventing their production and consumption like pigs. Due to high cost of production, many options have been advocated to finding lasting solution to current high cost of conventional feed stuffs with a view to make animal protein available and affordable to common man. Studies have shown that rabbit can thrive on a number of tropical forages supplemented with concentrate [1]. The domestic rabbit has good ability to utilize forages and fibrous plant materials [2].Tridaxprocumbens, Khayasenegalensis and Senna siamea are forages that are available in many areas of savanna which are not competed for by man and can be used as supplements to concentrate diet to feed rabbit. This study was carried out to compare the potentials of these forages as supplements to concentrate diet for rabbit.
 

MATERIALS AND METHODS

This research work was conducted at the Teaching and Research Farm of Federal College of Wildlife Management, New Bussa, Niger State, Nigeria. Concentrate diet was formulated as shown in Table 1. Twenty four crossbred grower rabbits with average initial weight of 590 ± 10 g were used.
 

The animals were divided into four treatment groups of six animals with each group having triplicate of two animals per replicate in a completely randomized design experiment. They were given prophylactic treatment and allowed for two weeks adjustment period followed by 12 weeks experimental period. Treatment 1 (T1) were fed with concentrate diet only. Treatment 2 (T2) were fed with concentrate and Tridaxprocumbens. Treatment 3 (T3) were fed with concentrate and Khayasenegalensis while treatment 4 (T4) were fed with concentrate and Senna siamea respectively. Feed and water were served ad-libitum. Feed intake, weight gain and feed conversion ratio were measured. After the feeding trial, seven days digestibility study was conducted. Proximate analyses of the concentrate diet, T. procumbens, K. senegalensis, S.siamea as well as faecal samples were carried out according to AOAC (1990) [3]. All data collected were subjected to statistical analysis using statistical package for social science (SPSS, 1980) [4]. Significant means were separated using Duncans Multiple Range test of the same package.
 

Table 1:Composition of the experimental diets.

 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Proximate composition of the concentrate diet, T. procumbens,.K. senegalensis and S. siamea forages are presented in Table 2. Nutrient digestibility of the experimental rabbits is shown in Table 3. The results had indicated that nutrients were reasonably utilized by the animals. This could be because the animals are at growing stage when nutrient is required for body building. The values of the nutrient digestibility were within close range but differed significantly between the treatments. Feed intake, weight gain and feed conversion ratio are presented in Table 4. The average daily feed intake for animals on concentrate alone (T1) was 38.65 g while 46.40 g, 53.80g and 52.00 g were recorded for animals on concentrate and forages (T2, T3 and T4) respectively. Concentrate intake decreased with increase in forage intake between the treatments. With the highest (30.80g) forage intake recorded in T2 and lowest (22.00g) in T4. High forage consumption of animals on T2 could be due to succulent, leafy and palatable nature of Tridaxprocumbenscompared to other forages. This observation is in line with Ukpe et al. [5]who stated that T. procumbenshas succulent and leafy nature and for this reason it was preferred to Panicum maximum and Calopogoniummucunoides. Daily feed intake was higher in animals on concentrate and forages with corresponding weight gain than in animals on concentrate alone with highest gain (12.80 g) in T2. T. procumbenshas extensively been used as the main forage for rabbit feeding. It is reportedIkurior et al. [6] to contain high nutrients and minerals. This may be the reason for high consumption of T. procumbens compared with other forages. K. senegalensisand S. siameaare tree forages which may contain some anti-nutritional factors such as tannin that could have interfered with other nutrients in the feed. This observation is in line with Abdu et al. [7] who stated that tannin in tree and shrub fodder bind with protein in the diet and form a less digestible complex and may also combine with endogenous proteins like enzymes and thus reducing digestibility. The feed conversion ratio (FCR) was better in T2 than other treatments. Although higher feed intake with corresponding higher gains were recorded in T3 and T4 than T1, FCR was better in T1 than T3 and T4 respectively. This may be due to presence of anti-nutritional factors present in the tree fodder as stated earlier.
 

Table 2:Proximate Composition of the Experimental Concentrate, T.procumbens, K. senegalensis and S.

siamea.

Table 3:Nutrient digestibility of the experimental rabbits.

^a.b.c.dMeans in the same row with different superscripts differ significantly (P<0.05)
 

Table 4:Performance characteristics of the experimental rabbits.

^a.b.c.dMeans in the same raw with different superscripts differ significantly (P<0.05)
 

CONCLUSION

This research work has confirmed that rabbit performs better when fed with concentrate diet and forage than when fed with concentrate only. The results have also shown that Tridaxprocumbens was better utilized and had superior weight gain than Khayasenegalensis and Senna siamea. It is thus concluded that T. procumbens is better for feeding rabbit followed by K. senegalensis.

REFERENCES

1. Shiawoya EL, Musa JAO. 2003. Evaluation of the feedingpotentials of mango (Mangiferaindica) leaves, banana (Musa spp) leaves and Tridax (Tridaxprocumbens) as supplements to conventional feeds for growing rabbits. Proceedings of 8th Annual Conference of Animal Science Association of Nigeria (ASAN): 90-92.
2. Ibitoye EB, Olorede BR, Jimoh AA, 2010. The rabbit industry and alternative feedstuffs; A review. Proceedings of the 35th Annual Conference of Nigerian Society for Animal Production (NSAP), 14th - 17th March, 2010. University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria: 207-211.
3. 1990. Official Methods of Analysis, 15th edition. Association of Official Analytical Chemists, Washington DC
4. Statistical Package for Social Sciences. 1980. SPSS for windows version 11
5. Ukpe NE, Ukpe IE, Ilo SU. 2009. Effects of feeding three types of forages on the performance of weaner rabbits. Proceedings of 14th Annual Conference of Animal Science Association of Nigeria (ASAN), September 14th-17th 2009. LAUTECH, Ogbomoshp, Nigeria: 357-358.
6. Ikurior SA, Igba AT, Shaanu OT. 2009. Utilization of supplementalTridaxprocumbensmeal in cassava based diets by growing rabbits. Proceedings of 14th Annual Conference of Animal Science Association of Nigeria (ASAN), September 14th-17th 2009. LAUTECH, Ogbomosho, Nigeria: 372-374.
7. Abdu SB, Yashim SM, Hassan MR, 2009. Influence of Ziziphus (Ziziphusnauritiana) leaf meal inclusion on nutrient digestibility and nitrogen balance in rabbit. Proceedings of 14th Annual Conference of Animal Science Association of Nigeria (ASAN), September 14th-17th 2009. LAUTECH, Ogbomosho, Nigeria: 366-368.