Nutritional evaluation of Moringa oleifera pod meal for white New Zealand rabbits
Moringa oleifera pod meal for white New Zealand rabbits
Keywords:
Feed utilization, Moringa oleifera, non-ruminant nutrition, Rabbits, White New ZealandAbstract
The study was to find out the appropriateness of 15% replacement of concentration through Moringa oleifera pod meal in non-lactating female White New Zealand Rabbit production for semi-arid reasons. The non-lactating female White New Zealand Rabbits (N=12) were randomly divided the two groups, viz. control (3.25±0.20 kg) and test group (3.20±0.18 kg). Concentrates made of HAC cafeteria left-over were given to the experimental animals to meet their daily DCP and ME requirements. Alfalfa as green fodder was offered ad-lib to the animals. In the control group, the animals received 100% concentrate, whereas in the test group, 85% concentrate and 15% moringa pod meal on a fresh basis. During the experiment, an eight-day adaptation period was followed by a five-day digestibility cum behaviour experiment. Digestibility cum behaviour experiment continued for consecutive 120 hours and dived into 24 slots of 5 hours each. The animals were offered the weighed amount of feed at the start of the slot. The refusals of feed and faeces were weighed and sampled at the end of the slot. For comparing results on two feeds 'paired t-test for the difference in means was used. The findings of the research work included that the intake of dry matter (DM), organic matter (OM), crude protein (CP), nitrogen-free extract (NFE), and total carbohydrates (TCHO) was non-significant in two groups and CF and EE were increased in the test group. The coefficients of apparent digestibility of DM, OM, CP, NFE, TCHO, and GE remained non-significant and EED increased in the test group. DMI, DOMI, DCPI, and DEI remained non-significant and DEEI significant between two treatments.
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