Productive, Physiological and Economic Evaluation of Supplementing Fattening Rabbit Diets with Spirulina platensis

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Animal Production Research Institute, Agric. Res. Cent., Ministry of Agric., Giza, Egypt

2 Poult. Prod. Dept. Fac. of Agric. Ain Shams Univ. Egypt

Abstract

This study examined the effectiveness of Spirulina platensis powder (SPP) levels during the fattening of weaned rabbits regarding growth, blood, and economic evaluation. Two hundred eight commercial V-line male rabbits, aged 7 weeks (with an average weight of 795.92±12.1 g), were randomly divided into four tested groups. Each group tested a specific additive level of SPP in feedstuff.  The 1st group was served as a control group with zero level (G0); the 2nd, 3rd and 4th groups were received 1, 2 and 4 g of SPP/kg of feedstuff (G1, G2 and G3), respectively.
Results indicated that the SPP additive had positive impact compared to the control group. Both G2 and G3 significantly (P≤0.05) enhanced final body weight (2221.5 and 2208 g, respectively), feed conversion ratio (4.58 and 4.64, respectively), and performance index (48.50 and 47.60, respectively). Furthermore, G2 excelled in body weight gain (BWG) and growth rate (GR) (41.20 and 184.99, respectively). Treatments with SPP improved biochemical and hematological parameters. Similarly, lipid profiles and kidney function were directly enhanced by SPP additives. Economically, the level of G2 significantly increased (P≤0.05) net revenue (82.49) compared to the other groups.
 Conclusively, it could be concluded that using 2 g SPP/kg diet as feed additive in fattening rabbits feedstuff can improve the growth performance and enhance feed utilization with highly net revenue.
 

Keywords

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics