Effect Of Adding Organic And Inorganic Zinc To Diets In Lessening The Negative Impact Of Heat Stress On Growing Male New Zealand White Rabbits

Helal, Amera; Abd El-Latif, Khaled

doi:10.21608/ejrs.2025.414334

Effect Of Adding Organic And Inorganic Zinc To Diets In Lessening The Negative Impact Of Heat Stress On Growing Male New Zealand White Rabbits

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Amera Helal ¹
Khaled Abd El-Latif ²

¹ Department of Animal Production, Faculty of Agriculture, Zagazig University, Zagazig 44511, Egypt

² Specialized Hospital, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt.

10.21608/ejrs.2025.414334

Abstract

This study aimed to evaluate the effects of dietary organic Zinc Ethylene-diamine-tetra-acetic acid (Zinc EDTA) and inorganic zinc oxide (ZnO) supplementation on the growth, feed efficiency, blood parameters, physiological indicators, and carcass traits of growing male New Zealand White (NZW) rabbits under Egyptian heat-stress conditions. A total of thirty weaned male NZW rabbits were randomly assigned (625 ± 5.39 g) to three experimental groups. The 1^st group was fed basal diet without Zn supplementation as control group; while the 2^nd group was fed with Zn-EDTA (50 mg/kg diet), and the 3^rd group was fed with ZnO (50 mg/kg diet) for the duration of 5-13 weeks of age.
The results indicated that zinc supplementation significantly (P< 0.01) increased body weight, daily weight gain, and relative growth rate in both Zinc EDTA and ZnO groups as compared to the control group. The Zinc EDTA group had the best feed conversion ratio and protein efficiency ratio. Blood parameters were also, significantly (P<0.01) affected by zinc supplementation, which was: Zinc EDTA group had significant (P< 0.01) increases in serum total protein, whereas both Zinc EDTA and ZnO significantly reduced serum ALT, AST, and urea levels when compared to control group. In carcass traits, both Zinc EDTA and ZnO groups had significantly (P< 0.01) higher carcass weight and dressing percentage compared to the control group. Moreover, the economic efficiency was improved, both Zinc EDTA and ZnO groups showed higher return of gain and profit margin as compared to the control group, especially with Zinc EDTA group was yielding the highest profit margin.
Conclusively,, from these results, it could be concluded that dietary zinc supplementation, particularly in the form of Zinc EDTA, provides significant benefits for improving growth performance, feed efficiency, health, and economic outcomes in male NZW rabbits exposed to heat stress, in Egypt.

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