Indian Journal of Small Ruminants (The)

A study was conducted to evaluate the effects of dietary supplementation of probiotic (Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Lactobacillus sporogenes) on growth, blood profile and economic traits of broiler rabbits. Thirty weaned Soviet Chinchilla rabbits were randomly divided into three groups and fed experimental diets for a period of 8 weeks. The three treatments were-T¹: basal diet without probiotic supplementation (control), T₂: basal diet + probiotic supplementation @ 0.5 g/kg of feed and T³: basal diet + probiotic supplementation @ 1.0 g/kg of feed. The net body weight gain was significantly (P<0.01) higher in T₂ (1545.1) and T₃ (1572.8g) han T₁ (1370.1). Total feed intake was comparable among the different groups. The feed conversion ratio was better in T₃ (3.99) and T₂ (4.05) probiotic supplemented groups compared to the control (4.67). The return from of rabbit was higher in T 2 and T 13 than in T. No significant differences were observed in blood metabolites except serum cholesterol which reduced significantly (P<0.05) in probiotic supplemented groups T₂ (64.40) and T₃ (60.40) than the control (70.00 mg/dl).The results indicated that dietary supplementation of probiotic (@ 0.5 g/kg of feed) in weaner rabbits improved body weight gain, feed conversion ratio and reduced serum cholesterol level along with more economic returns.