PRODUCTIVE PERFORMANCE OF GROWING RABBITS FED DIETS CONTAINING FENUGREEK STRAW AND SUPPLEMENTED WITH ENZYMES.

PRODUCTIVE PERFORMANCE OF GROWING RABBITS FED DIETS CONTAINING FENUGREEK STRAW AND SUPPLEMENTED WITH ENZYMES.

Fawzia A. Hassan¹; Azoz, A. A.¹ and Deraz, T. T. ¹

¹Animal Production Research Institute, Agricultural Research Center, El-Dokki, Giza,, Egypt.

*Corresponding author: fawzia_amer@yahoo.com

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of partially replacement of clover hay by fenugreek straw (FS) at 20, 40 and 60% in rabbit diets with or without enzyme supplementation on the growth performance, digestibility of nutrients, carcass traits and economic efficiency. Seven experimental diets were formulated. A total of eighty four weaned New Zealand White rabbits with an average body weight 732.72 g ±1.40 g were individually housed, randomly allocated to seven groups and each group consisted of three replicates (four rabbits each). The obtained results showed that rabbits fed 40% FS with enzyme recorded significantly (P<0.05) the highest value of final body weight (2112.0gm) compared with the other experimental diets. Also, high (P<0.05) daily weight gain was observed for both rabbits fed 40% FS with or without enzyme (27.99 and 23.31 g/day, respectively). While, weight gain of rabbits fed 60%FS without enzyme was lower than that of the control group (18.99g/day) by 12.44%. Feed intake did not significantly change due to the inclusion of fenugreek straw either with or without enzymes. Concerning to digestibility trial, the results showed that rabbits fed either 20 or 40% FS with enzyme recorded better (P<0.05) values of the nutrients digestibility. Accordingly, the nutritive value expressed as TDN and DE revealed that rabbits fed 20%FS without enzyme and 60% FS with enzyme recorded better (P<0.05) of total VFA in comparison to those fed the control diet. Rabbits fed 40% FS with enzyme recorded the lowest value of blood cholesterol compared with the other experimental groups. Rabbits fed diets contained 60% FS with enzyme recorded significantly the highest level of Creatinine (1.29 mg/dl) compared with the control (1.13 mg/dl). Rabbits fed diets contained 40% FS with or without enzyme recorded better Dressing% than the control group. Besides, the rabbit group fed 40% FS with enzyme achieved the highestnet revenue, economic efficiency and relative economic efficiency compared to the other experimental groups. It could be concluded that incorporation of fenugreek straw as non traditional fiber source in rabbit diets at 20, 40 and 60% replacing for clover hay supplementing with exogenous enzymes led to an improve in the growth performance and digestibility of most nutrients as well as the nutritive values of tested diets.

Keywords: Fenugreek straw, rabbits, digestibility, growth performance.

Rabbit is a non-ruminant plant-eating animal, with the crude fiber (CF) has the important effect on keeping normal digestion. CF not only provides nutrition, but has the function of maintaining micro-ecological balances of gut, promoting digestive system development and raising the reproductive performance (GU et al., 2004).

Straws remaining after the production of grains are one of the most abundant classes of crop residues. The use of straw for animal feeding is mainly an economic decision. Straws could be used as animal feeds if other feeds that have higher nutritional value are competitively priced, and are not available.Available quantity of Fenugreek crop according to Ministry of Agriculture (2011) was 12464tonnes/year, Average straw production was 825 kg/Fadden (Desuki and El-Noubi, 1990).

The use of diets with high soluble fibre concentrations to replace for starch successfully enhanced the digestive efficiency, the growth performance and the caecal fermentation of growing rabbits (Trocino et al., 2013). A minimal concentration of insoluble fiber is widely considered as the main dietary factor to prevent digestive disorders in fattening rabbits. The increase of dietary soluble fibre has a positive effect on the reduction of mortality due to digestive diseases in growing rabbits and this result could be ascribed to the high fermentability of soluble fibre and the changes exerted on the intestinal microbiota and the enhanced gut barrier function. Insoluble fermentable fibre may partially share with soluble fibre the responsibility of these effects. A supply around 12% soluble fibre should be guaranteed in diets for post-weaning and growing rabbits containing about 30% NDF and 18% ADF (Trocino et al., 2012).

In rabbit feeding, the insoluble fibre (hemicelluloses, cellulose and lignin) and the less lignified fibre fractions may influence the rate of passage of the digesta, and thus affect and regulate the growth performance and digestive health of rabbits( Gidenne et al., 2010). Enzymes are added to animal ration with the goal of increasing its digestibility, removing antinutritional factors, improving nutrient availability, as well as for environmental issues. A large number of carbohydrases, proteases, phytases and lipases are used for this purpose (McCleary, 2001). Several studies studied the incorporation of exogenous enzymes into rabbit diets to improve nutrients availability, and found an improvement in the performance in most trials and rabbits appeared better responsive (Eiben et al., 2004; Garcia et al., 2006; Falcao-e-Cunha et al., 2008 and Pinheiro et al., 2009). Abd El-Latif et al.(2008) reported that dietary low fiber levels (10 and 13%) either with or without enzymes improved live body weight, body gain and feed conversion efficiency of rabbits as compared with high dietary levels of crude fiber (16 and 19%). Also, Rabbits fed 10% CF and provided with enzymes recorded better (P<0.05) values of dry mater (DM), crude protein (CP) and crude fiber (CF) digestibility.

The objective of this study was to determine the effects of feeding growing rabbits on diets contained three levels of fenugreek straw (20, 40 and 60% of clover hay) with or without commercial enzyme supplementation on growth performance, digestibility and the carcass traits.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Enzyme

A commercial enzymes product (TECHNOZYM; Technofeed, LLC, BurrRidge, lllinois; USA.) was used for this experiment. The guaranteed analysis was xylanase 8000 U; Protease 250 U; Cellulase 45000U; Lipase 13 U; Pectinase 60U; Beta-gluconase 75U; Alpha Amylase 800 U and Carrier up to 1 gm, at an inclusion rate of 100 gm/ton feed.

Animals and diets

The experimental work of this study was carried out at Borg-ElArab, El-Bahera Governorate, Experimental Station of Animal Production, Animal production Research Institute, Agricultural Research Center, Ministry of Agriculture, Egypt. Fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-gracum) straw was obtained from Al-Fayoum Governorate, in dry form then ground by hammer mill and kept for mixing and pelleting.  

Eighty four weaned New Zealand white rabbits, six weeks old with an average live body weight 732.7.2 g ±1.40 were allotted randomly to seven groups (12 rabbits each). Each group was sub-divided into three replicates, (four rabbits each). The feed and the water were offered ad lib. Animals were individually weighed every week, consumption of feed was recorded while feed conversion was calculated as a ratio of gram of feed per gram of gain (on a basis of replicates). Seven experimental diets were formulated; the first used as control diet while other six diets, formulated to replace clover hay at levels of 20, 40 and 60% by fenugreek straw with or without enzyme supplementation. All the experimental diets were formulated to be iso-nitrogenous, iso-caloric, and to meet all the essential nutrient requirements of growing rabbits according to NRC (1977). Composition and chemical analyses of the experimental diets are presented in Table 1.

Digestibility trials

At the end of the experimental period, a digestibility trial was conducted to determine the digestibility coefficient of the nutrients and the nutritive values of the experimental diets according to (Perez et al., 1995). Twenty one adult male New Zealand White rabbits, 7 months of age with an average live body weight ranged from 2205 to 2230g, were used in digestibility evaluation and allotted randomly to seven groups of three rabbits each. Rabbits were housed in an individual metabolism cages and fed the experimental diets for a period of 7 days (preliminary period) for adaptation then faeces were collected every 24 hours for 5 consecutive days (collection period). Total digestible nutrients (TDN) were calculated as follows: % digestible crude protein + % digestible crude fiber + % digestible nitrogen free extract (NFE) + 2.25 % digestible ether extract (EE). Digestible energy (DE, Kcal/Kg diet)) was calculated as follow: TDN × 44.3 according to Schneider and Flatt (1975).

Carcass traits, blood samples and cecum characteristics

At the end of the experimental period, three rabbits from each treatment were randomly taken, individually weighed and slaughtered. After complete bleeding, pelt and viscera were removed and then carcass was weighed. Length of small and large intestinal, abdominal fat and kidney fat were recorded. Dressing percentage included relative weights of carcass was estimated according to Steven et al., (1981).

            Blood samples were collected at slaughtering time in heparinized glass tubes. Blood plasma was separated by centrifugation at 3000 rpm for 15 minutes. The collected plasma was stored at -20°C until assay. Glucose was determined according to Flegg (1973), cholesterol was estimated according to Richmond (1973), AST and ALT were determined according to Reitman and Frankel (1957) and Creatinine was determined according to Bartles (1972) by commercial kits. After slaughter, gastrointestinal tracts were individually removed from three animals from each group, Then the caecal content was collected and divided into two samples, one of them was taken to estimate the cecum microflora, the other sample was filtered through four folds of gauze, and used for dertermination of N-ammonia concentration and total volatile fatty acids. The cecal appendix fluid were taken and stored at -20°C until estimation of cecum microflora (total bacterial count and cellulytic bacteria) by standard method according to British Standards Institution (1991), using nutrient agar medium (DifcoLaboratories Incorporated, 1984). The N-ammonia concentration was determined applying Conway method (Conway, 1958).The total volatile fatty acids (VFA) were determined by steam distillation according to (Eadie et al., 1967) using Micro Kjeldahl's distillation unit.

Chemical analysis

Chemical analysis were performed as recommended by A.O.A.C (1999) for determining moisture, crude protein (CP), crude fiber (CF), ether extract (EE), nitrogen free extract (NFE). Fiber fractions included neutral detergent fiber (NDF), acid detergent fiber (ADF), and acid detergent lignin (ADL) were determined sequentially according to Van Soest et al. (1991) system at the Laboratory of By-products Research Department of Animal Production Research Institute.

Economical efficiency

To determine the economic efficiency of the experimental diets for body weight gain, the costs of feed required for producing one kg of body weight gain was calculated. The cost of the experimental diets was calculated according to the price of different ingredients prevailing at local market as well as the price of tested materials at the time of experimentation. Economical efficiency was calculated as a ratio between the return of weight gain and the cost of consumed feed.

Statistical Analysis

The results obtained were statistically analyzed using GLM (general linear models) procedure of SAS (2000) by one-way ANOVA. Duncan’s multiple range of test (Duncan, 1955) was used to detect the significant of differences between treatment means. The following statistical model was:  X_ij =µ +T_i +e_{i j} ,

Where Xij= is the j th observation in the i th treatment, µ = overall mean,T_i = treatment groups (i= 1- 13),e_ij = random effect.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Chemical composition

Results in Table (2) indicated that OM, CF, NFE, ADF and ADL content of FS was higher than that in clover hay, while DM, CP, EE, Ash and NDF content was lower. On the other hand, the CP and CF content was lower than those values recorded by Awadalla and Mohamed (1997) being 7.51 vs. 6.3% and 33.23 vs. 33.54%, respectively.Also, Abdel-Magid et al., (2005)stated that the CF% content offenugreek strawwas 38.74%.

Table 2: Chemical analysis of Fenugreek straw and clover hay on dry matter basis.

Growth performance

Growth performance is presented in Table 3. For the whole period, rabbits fed 40% FS+Enzyme recorded the highest value (P<0.05) of final body weight (2112 gm) compared with the rabbits fed the other experimental diets. These findings are in agreement with those obtained by Attia et al., (2012) who found that feeding growing rabbits on diets containing 1% kemzyme (exogenous Multi-enzyme Feed Additive ) for 8 successive weeks increased (P<0.05) final body weight compared to the control group. Also,Sarhan (2001) found that adding 500 mg Kemzyme or Optizyme / kg to growing rabbits diet significantly improved live body weight at 9 and 13 weeks of age. However, the highest (P<0.05) daily weight gain was observed for rabbits fed 40% FS either with or without enzyme in comparison with the other experimental groups. While daily weight gain of rabbits fed 60%FS without enzyme was reduced by 12.44% (18.99 g/ day) compared to the control group. In this connection, Gutierrez et al., (2002)showed that body gain of rabbits was increased by 3.1 % as a result of supplementing diets Porzyme and NSP digesting enzyme (Xylanase, Pectinase) from 25 to 39 days of age. 

Feed intake did not significantly affected due to levels of inclusion of fenugreek straw either with or without enzymes and ranged from 83.85 g/day for rabbit fed 40%FS to 85.68 g/day for rabbits fed 20%FS both with Enzyme. Thus, using fenugreek straw as alternative source of fiber did not affect voluntary intake of rabbits.

Regarding the FCR values, feeding rabbits diets containing 40% FS+enzyme improved FCR in comparison with those groups fed control and 60% FS with or without enzyme (3.09 vs. 4.86 and 4.33g feed/g gain). Generally, adding enzyme in rabbit diets containing 40 or 60% FS with enzyme had better FCR values than those groups fed the same diets without enzyme. The present results of feed conversion efficiency are agree with Sarhan (2001) who found that feed conversion ratio significantly improved during the periods from 8 to 10 and from 10 to 12 weeks of age with adding 500 mg Kemzyme or Optizyme / kg to growing rabbits diet. An advantage only in FCR with supplementation of 0.05 % cellulase and protease activity enzyme complex (VEGPRO) in the diet of rabbits weaned at 40 days of age was reported by Valente et al., (1999).

The improvement in performance of rabbits resulting from enzyme addition may be due to the beneficial role to this enzyme in improving the feed utilization in the small intestine, increasing the availability of some nutrients, enhancing digestive capacity especially of young animals as well as to increase the digestibility of the feed(Wenk, 2000 and Cachaldora et al., 2004). Besides to that Bedford, (2000) mentioned that enzyme addition can reduce the available substrates for microbial proliferation in the ileum and caecum, while stimulating the more beneficial organisms, as a result of the oligosaccharides and/or sugars they are able to release.

Digestibility coefficients and nutritive values of the experimental diets

The effect of experimental diets on digestibility of nutrients is presented in Table 4. The results showed that rabbits fed 40% FS+ Enzyme recorded better values of the digestibility of all nutrients, therefore, the nutritive value expressed as TDN and DE was better than the other experimental diets. Insignificant differences were observed in DCP. In general, nutrients digestibility was improved with adding enzyme to the rabbits diet containing 20 or 40% FS in comparison with the same diets without enzyme. These results coincided with Saleh et al., (2006), Abd-Rahman et al., (2010), Attia et al., (2012) and Machado et al., (2012) who reported that exogenous enzymes improve the digestibility of the dry matter (DM), organic matter, crude protein and gross energy for diets contained cassava leaf meal.

This may be attributed to that incorporating exogenous enzymes into rabbits diet improve nutrients availability because enzymes can partially hydrolyze the non starch polysaccharides (NSP), reduce the viscosity of gut contents, and result in an improvements in nutrient absorption (Falcao-e-Cunha et al., 2008). In this trend, Machado et al., (2012) found that the exogenous enzymes (phytase, alpha-galactosidase, galactomananase, beta-glucanase, and xylanase) provided significative improvements in the digestibility of the nutritional principles of the simplified and semi-simplified diets. In this respect, Abd-Rahman et al., (2010) reported that favorable change in pH of gastrointestinal tract is the factor responsible for such an increased enzymatic activity mediated by exogenous enzymes. Adversely, Bolis et al., (1996) found a negative effect on nutrient digestibility when a commercial protease or a glycosidase was added to the diet.

Cecum characteristics

Data concerning the effect of experimental diets on cecum characteristics of growing rabbits are presented in Table 5.  It could be noticed that ammonia concentrations did not differ among the different treatments. While, rabbits fed 20%FS without enzyme and 60% FS with enzyme recorded better (P<0.05) total VFA values than those fed control diets. On the other hand, the rabbits fed 60%FS without enzyme achieved the highest (P<0.05) count of total bacterial (8.71 log CFU/ml). While, the lowest count values were recorded with the control and 20%FS without enzyme (6.52 and 6.71 log CFU/ml, respectively). In addition, rabbit fed 40% and 60% FS with enzyme had the best cellulolytic count compared to other treatements.

Accordingly, incorporating FS as fiber source in rabbits diet supplemented with enzymes stimulate the maturation of cecal flora especially cellulolytic bacteria which secretes enzymes capable of hydrolyzing the cellulose as the main components of dietary fiber. These observations confirmed those of Gidenne et al., (1998) and Gidenne and LeBas (2002).

According to the obtained data in the present study, it is clear to note that enzyme supplementation improves cecal fermentation pattern and rabbit metabolism that might lead to the higher body weight obtained in rabbits supplemented with enzyme.   

Blood constituents

Table 6, revealed that no significant differences were observed among the different experimental groups in cholesterol and glucose concentrations. These are in agreement with those reported by Selim et al., (2004) who found that NZW rabbits X Californian rabbits fed diets with commercial enzymes mixture (kenzyme, 1kg/ton) did not significantly affect (%) plasma glucose. Nevertheless, Abd El-latif et al., (2008) found that glucose for rabbits fed dietary 10% CF and provided with enzymes recorded the highest value (P<0.05) compared with other crude fiber levels and the better values of GOT and GPT were recorded for rabbits fed dietary 16% CF with providing enzymes.

Creatinine concentration as an indication for kidney function was significantly affected by FS levels and enzymes supplementation. Rabbits fed diets contained 60% FS+E recorded the higher (P<0.05) level of Creatinine (1.29 mg/dl) than the control (1.13 mg/dl). Concerning liver enzyme (AST and ALT) level, the results revealed that the highest (P<0.05) value of AST concentration was (30.22 U/ml) for rabbits fed diet 20%FS compared to the other experimental treatments. However, rabbits fed 40%FS with enzyme recorded the highest level of ALT (12.18 U/ml).

Generally, values of cholesterol, creatinine, AST, ALT and glucose concentrations were found to be within the normal range of plasma blood analysis reported by (Kaneko et al., 1997).

Carcass traits

Results in Table 7showedthat the different dietary treatments did not affect fasted animals weights, carcass weight (g) and abdominal fat between all the experimental diets. These results are in agreement with those reported by Gad Alla (1997) who reported that using agricultural wastes did not affected the carcass weight. However, rabbits fed diets contained 40% FS either with or without enzyme increased dressing % by 5.51% and 4.60 %, respectively compared to control group.

Concerning length of small intestinal, rabbits fed 20%FS without enzyme recorded the highest (P<0.05) (285.66 cm) while, the lowest was for 40% FS without enzyme (185.66 cm). However, length of large intestinal, showed a significant difference between rabbits fed control diet and rabbit fed 40% FS without enzyme.

Economic efficiency:

As shown in Table 8, the results indicated that rabbits fed diets containing 40%FS with enzyme achieved the highest net revenue, economic

efficiency and relative economic efficiency compared to the other experimental diets. Besides, all the experimental diets recorded higher economic efficiency and relative economic efficiency than the control group. This advantage may be due to their current lower price compared to the control and rabbits fed diets containing FS utilized feed more efficiently than those fed the control diet. In this respect, Asar et al., (2010) reported that net revenue and relative economical efficiency values were maximized by feeding growing rabbits on diets containing corn-cob meal and faba bean straw as replacing for barley and Berseem hay, respectively. However, such ingredients might maximize feeding costs reduction, which will be reflected on higher economical efficiency of growing rabbits.

Conclusions

According the results obtained from this study fenugreek straw could be replaced for clover hay in growing rabbit diets supplementing with exogenous enzymes at 20, 40 and 60% levels to improve growth performance, digestibility of all nutrients and economic efficiency.

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الأداء الإنتاجی للأرانب النامیة المغذاه علی علائق تحتوی علی تبن الحلبة ومضاف الیها الانزیمات

فـوزیة عـامر حسان*- أبو بکر احمد عزوز**- طارق دراز*

* قسم بحوث استخدام المخلفات- معهد بحوث الإنتاج الحیوانی- مرکز البحوث الزراعیة- جیزة- مصر

** قسم بحوث تربیة الأرانب- معهد بحوث الإنتاج الحیوانی- مرکز البحوث الزراعیة- جیزة- مصر

الهدف من هذه الدراسة هو تقییم تأثیر الإحلال الجزئی لتبن الحلبة محل تدریس البرسیم عند مستوی 20 أو 40 أو 60 % فی علائق الأرانب مع أو بدون إضافة الإنزیمات علی أداء النمو والهضم وخصائص الذبیحة والکفاءة الاقتصادیة, حیث تم تکوین سبعه علائق واستخدام أربعة وثمانین أرنب نیوزلندی ابیض عمر ستة أسابیع بمتوسط وزن 732,2 ±1,40 جم تم توزیعها عشوائیا إلی سبعه مجموعات وکل مجموعه تتکون من 3 مکررات وکل مکرر یحتوی علی أربعه أرانب.

 وتتلخص النتائج المتحصل علیها کالتالی:

-  أظهرت النتائج المتحصل علیها أن الأرانب المغذاة علی 40% تبن حلبة مع إضافة الإنزیمات قد سجلت اعلی وزن جسم نهائی معنویا (2012جم) مقارنة مع باقی العلائق وکذلک سجلت الأرانب المغذاة علی 40% تبن حلبة مع او بدون إضافة الإنزیمات اعلی زیادة وزنیه یومیة (27,99و23,31 جم/یومیا) علی الترتیب.

-  سجلت الأرانب المغذاة علی 60% تبن حلبة بدون إضافة الإنزیمات اقل زیادة وزنیه یومیة (18,99 جم/یومیا) من مجموعه الکنترول بنسبة 12,44%.

- لم یتأثر متوسط المأکول الیومی بإحلال تبن الحلبة سواء مع أو بدون أضافه الإنزیمات.

- سجلت مجموعه الأرانب المغذاة علی کلا من 20 او 40% تبن حلبة مع إضافة الإنزیمات أفضل قیم لمعاملات الهضم وکذلک القیم الغذائیة کالمرکبات الغذائیة المهضومة الکلیة والطاقة المهضومة.

- سجلت الأرانب المغذاة علی 20% تبن حلبة بدون إضافة الإنزیمات و 60% تبن حلبة مع الإنزیمات أفضل القیم للأحماض الدهنیة الطیارة مقارنة بمجموعه الکنترول, بینما سجلت الأرانب المغذاة علی 40% تبن حلبة مع إضافة الإنزیمات اقل مستوی لترکیز کولیسترول الدم مقارنة بباقی المجموعات ,سجلت الأرانب المغذاة علی 60% تبن حلبة مع إضافة الإنزیمات اقل مستوی للکریاتینیین معنویا (1.29 ملجم/دیسلتر) مقارنة بالکنترول, حققت الأرانب المغذاة علی 40% تبن حلبة مع أو بدون الإنزیمات أحسن نسبة تصافی من مجموعه الکنترول.

- بالإضافة إلی انه قد حققت مجموعه الأرانب المغذاة علی 40% تبن حلبة بالإنزیمات اعلی کفاءة اقتصادیة مقارنة مع باقی المجموعات التجریبیة.

- التوصیة: نستنتج من النتائج فی انه یمکن إحلال تبن الحلبة کمصدر غیر تقلیدی للألیاف عند مستوی 20 أو 40 أو 60% وتحل محل دریس البرسیم مضاف إلیه الإنزیمات حیث یؤدی إلی تحسین أداء النمو والهضم فی الأرانب.