1Department of Animal Production and Health, Faculty of Agriculture and Life Science, Federal University Wukari, P.M.B 1020, Wukari, Taraba State, Nigeria
2Department of Animal Science and Range Mgt, School of Agriculture and Agricultural Technology, Federal University of Technology, Yola, P.M.B 2076 Yola, Adamawa State, Nigeria
3Department of Soil Science, School of Agriculture and Agricultural Technology, Federal University of Technology, Yola, P.M.B 2076 Yola, Adamawa State, Nigeria
*Corresponding author e-mail: raj21387@gmail.com
Online published on 15 September, 2014.
Thirty (30) cross bred (Chinchilla × Newzealand white) rabbits aged between 5–6 weeks were used to evaluate the effects of kaolin supplementation on the growth performance and haematological indices of weaner rabbits. The rabbits were randomly allotted to five dietary treatments with six rabbits per replicate in a Completely Randomized Design. The five dietary treatments were; basal diet + 0g/kg (control), basal diet + 5g/kg kaolin, basal diet + 10g/kg kaolin, basal diet + 15g/kg kaolin, 20g/kg designated as T1, T2, T3, T4 and T5 respectively. Weekly, data from each treatment were collected on body weight, weight gain and feed intake was recorded daily. At the end of the experiment (10 weeks), three rabbits were randomly selected per treatment for carcass evaluation and haematological analysis. Data collected were subjected to one way ANOVA. The results revealed that supplementing rabbit diet with kaolin significantly (P<0.05) improved body weight, carcass weight, dressing percentage, internal organs and haematological indices compared to the control (T1). It was also observed rabbits fed kaolin supplemented diet had minimal diarrhoeal infection. The results imply that kaolin can be supplementation up to 20% for better growth performance, diarrhoeal resistance, carcass index and haematological indices of weaner rabbits.
Kaolin, supplementation, performance, haematology, weaner rabbits
