Effect Of Using Olive Pulp Meal on Growth Performance, Nutrient Digestibility and Blood Parameters of Growing Male Rabbits

Srour, Ibtesam; Bahnas, Marwa; Rafaie, Mohamed

doi:10.21608/ejrs.2025.420080

Effect Of Using Olive Pulp Meal on Growth Performance, Nutrient Digestibility and Blood Parameters of Growing Male Rabbits

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

¹ Department of Poultry Production, Faculty of Agriculture, New Valley University, Egypt.

² Department of Poultry Production, Faculty of Agriculture, Fayoum University, Egypt.

10.21608/ejrs.2025.420080

Abstract

The study investigated the effects of partially replacing barley with olive pulp (OP) and enzyme supplementation on the growth performance, nutrient digestibility, and economic efficiency of New Zealand White rabbits (NZW) of growing rabbits. A total of 120 male NZW rabbits, aged 4 weeks, with an average body weight of 445.7 ± 22.87 g, as experimental design followed a factorial (3 × 2) arrangement, which was randomly, divided into three groups (40 rabbits in each group): a control group (basal diet without OP) and two experimental groups receiving 5% and 10% OP, with each group further split into two sub-groups with or without enzyme supplementation (20 male rabbits in each sub group). Each sub- treatment group included five replicates, with four rabbits per replicate
The results showed that increasing OP levels negatively impacted body weight, daily weight gain, feed intake, and feed conversion ratio (FCR), particularly at 10% OP. However, enzyme supplementation improved significantly growth performance, nutrient digestibility, and feed efficiency, mitigating some of the negative effects of OP inclusion. Higher OP levels also reduced total protein, albumin, and glucose levels, while enzyme supplementation improved these parameters without affecting cholesterol levels. Additionally, OP and enzyme supplementation had no adverse effects on kidney and liver function. In terms of carcass characteristics, 5% OP showed a higher dressing percentage than 10% OP, but no significant differences were found between the control and 5% OP groups. Economic efficiency and production index declined with increasing OP levels, but enzyme supplementation enhanced nutrient utilization, leading to better economic returns.
Conclusively, from these results could be concluded that high OP levels negatively affected growth and digestion, enzyme supplementation improved performance, making 5% OP with enzymes a more suitable option for rabbit diets.

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