Search In this Thesis
   Search In this Thesis  
العنوان
PHYSIOLOGICAL AND IMMUNOLOGICAL STUDY ON RABBITS :
المؤلف
Ali, Esraa Mohamed Abd Elmegeed.
هيئة الاعداد
باحث / إسراء محمد عبد المجيد على
مشرف / إبراهيم الورداني السيد حسن
مشرف / أيمن محمد حسن احمد
مشرف / هدي محمد عبدالرءوف شعبان
تاريخ النشر
2019.
عدد الصفحات
130 p. :
اللغة
الإنجليزية
الدرجة
الدكتوراه
التخصص
علم الحيوان والطب البيطري
تاريخ الإجازة
1/1/2019
مكان الإجازة
جامعة عين شمس - كلية الزراعة - إنتاج الدواجن
الفهرس
Only 14 pages are availabe for public view

from 130

from 130

Abstract

This study was carried out at state of Sakha Research Station, at Kafr El-sheikh Governorate, Animal Production Research Institute (APRI), Agriculture Research Center (ARC), Ministry of Agriculture, Dokki, Giza, Egypt during the period from November 2016 to January 2017.
The study was aimed to investigate the effect of using different size groups (4 rabbits /cage 60 cm2 and 8 rabbits in cage 120 cm2) with selective feeding (% hay in control diet and hay fed ad libitum) and their interaction on body weight, growth rate, carcass traits, behaviour and blood antioxidant and metabolic rate in APRI rabbits. A total number of 108 weaning rabbits were maintained from weaning to marketing age (5 to 12 weeks of age). Rabbits were randomly divided into 3 treatments in 3 replicate, 12 rabbits each. Each treatment was divided into two groups with two densities. The first group housed by 4 rabbits in cage 60 cm2 and second group housed by 8 rabbits in cage 120 cm2 (stocking density: 18 rabbits/m2). Average body weight of rabbits at the beginning of experiment was 560±10 grams. Animals were healthy and clinically free of external and internal parasites. Experimental diets were formulated to have nearly similar digestible energy (DE) and crude protein (17% crude protein, 2550 kcal DE per kg diet). The experimental design consisted of three dietary treatments as fallows:- The 1st group was fed the control diet (control) while the 2nd, and the 3rd groups were fed the basal diet without hay + % hay in control diet and fed the control diet without hay + hay fed ad libitum, respectively. The rabbits were weighted at the start of the experiment and then they were weighed weekly in each treatment. Live body weight, body weight gain, feed intake, feed conversion ratio daily and mortality rate were recorded. The economical efficiency (EE%) was calculated using the selling price of weight gain and the feeding cost of this gain prevailing in the market.
Four blood samples from each treatment were collected (2 from each group) at 8th, 10th weeks of age from marginal ear vein of rabbits and at the end of experimental period slaughter time to determine Glucose, Triglycerides, urea-nitrogen, Total antioxidant capacity, Hydrogen peroxidase (H2O2) and Glutathione transferees. At the end of the experimental period (12 weeks of age), 36 rabbits (4 rabbits / treatment (2 / group) from 3 replicate) from each treatment were randomly chosen and fasted approximately for 12 hours and weighed before slaughter (pre-slaughtered weight) to study carcass traits.
The obtained results could be summarized as follows:
A. Productive performance traits:
1- The effect of group size showed insignificant changes in live body weight (LBW) of rabbits at all growing periods.
2- The heaviest LBW was obtained for rabbits in larger group size (8 rabbits/ cage) by 0.50, 0.85 and 0.73% at 8, 10 and 12 weeks of age (WOA), respectively.
3- The effect of selective feeding showed insignificant changes in live body weight (LBW) of rabbits at all growing periods. However, the heaviest LBW was obtained for rabbits fed the control diet without hay+hay fed ad libitum followed by those fed commercial diet then rabbits fed the basal diet without hay+% hay in control diet.
4- The interaction between group size and the selective feeding have no significant on LBW, where the heaviest LBW was obtained for rabbit’s housed in 8rabbits/cage and fed the control diet without hay+hay fed ad libitum on all growing periods.
5- No significant effect of group size or selective feeding on DBWG at all growing period.
6- Rabbits housed in large group size (8rabbits/cage) gained more weight than small group size (4rabbits/cage) by 3.25% at all growing period 5-12 WOA, except only, at the period from 10-12 WOA small group size (4rabbits/cage) gained more weight than large group size (8rabbits/cage) by 3.49%.
7- Rabbits fed the control diet without hay+hay fed ad libitum was gained the most weight by 3.19% followed by control then rabbits fed the basal diet without hay+% hay in control diet at the period from 5-12 WOA however, at the period from 10-12 WOA rabbits fed the basal diet without hay+% hay in control diet following by rabbits fed the control diet without hay+hay fed ad libitum then rabbits fed the control diet.
8- The interaction between group size and the selective feeding have no significant effect on DWG. Where, the heaviest body weight gain was obtained for rabbit’s housed in 8rabbits/cage and fed the control diet without hay+hay fed ad libitum on all growing periods.
9- There were significant decreases (P≤0.01) in daily feed intake for rabbits housed in large group size (8rabbits/cage) than small group size (4rabbits/cage) at all growing period by 15.11, 10.93, 4.91 and 9.28% to the period from 5-8, 8-10, 10-12 and 5-12 WOA, respectively.
10- The daily feed intake has significant (P≤0.01) effect on selective feeding where, there were significant decreases in daily feed intake for rabbits fed the control diet following by fed the basal diet without hay+% hay in control diet then rabbits fed the control diet without hay+hay fed ad libitum at all growing period.
11- There were significant (P≤0.01) effect of the interaction between group size and the selective feeding on daily feed intake during all periods. The largest daily feed intake was optained for rabbits housed in 4rabbits/cage and fed the control diet without hay+hay fed ad libitum on all growing periods followed by rabbits housed in 8rabbits/cage and fed the control diet without hay+hay fed ad libitum on all growing periods by 22.19, 13.43, 13.93 and 15.68% to the period from 5-8, 8-10, 10-12 and 5-12 WOA, respectively.
12- There were significant decreases (P≤0.01) in FCR for rabbits that housed in large group size (8rabbits/cage) than small group size (4rabbits/cage) at all growing period by 16.56, 15.65, 2.40 and 17.76% to the period from 5-8, 8-10, 10-12 and 5-12 WOA, respectively.
13- There were significant increases (P≤0.01) in FCR for rabbits that fed the control diet without hay+hay fed ad libitum on all growing periods followed by rabbits fed the control diet then rabbits fed the basal diet without hay+% hay in control diet.
14- There were significant (P≤0.01) effect of the interaction between group size and the selective feeding on feed conversion ratio during all periods. The largest FCR was obtained for rabbits housed in 4rabbits/cage and fed the control diet without hay+hay fed ad libitum on all growing periods followed by rabbits housed in 8rabbits/cage and fed the control diet without hay+hay fed ad libitum.
15-There were no significant effect of using different size groups on performance index (%) of APRI rabbits during most different experimental periods.
16- There were significant effect of selective feeding on performance index (%) of APRI rabbits in T1, T2 and T3 at 5-8 wks age. performance index of rabbits significantly decreased when used hay limited or ad libtium at 5-12 wks age for the control group.
17- The results showed that there were significant (P≤0.01) effect of the interaction between group size and the selective feeding on performance index (%) during most periods. The largest performance index (%) was obtained for rabbits housed in 8rabbits/cage and fed control on all growing periods expect 10-12wks age, whereas the best value in 4rabbits/cage and fed limited hay.
18- Mortality rate has significantly influenced by group size where, the mortality rate was lower in group 2 (8 rabbits/ cage) than in group 1 (4 rabbits/ cage) by 6.06 %.
19- The lowest rate value on mortality rate was recorded for rabbits fed the control diet without hay+hay fed ad libitum following by rabbits fed rabbits fed the basal diet without hay+% hay in control diet then the control diet it was 28, 37 and 42%, respectively.
20- There were insignificant effects of group size and selective feeding on different carcass traits.
21- Rabbits housed in large group size (8rabbits/cage) gained more weight on different carcass traits than small group size (4rabbits/cage), expect cervix part percentage was prefer in small group size than large group size by 4.49% and there are no differ in back quarter percentage on group size.
22- Data depicted that on selective feeding rabbits fed the control diet without hay+hay fed ad libitum was the most interesting result, where it gained more weight on different carcass traits following by rabbits fed the basal diet without hay+% hay in control diet then the control diet, except on hot carcass weight, front and back quarter percentage were increased in rabbits fed the basal diet without hay+% hay in control diet then the other treatments.
23- The interaction between group size and the selective feeding had no significant effect on different carcass traits.
B. Blood plasma constituents:
1- Plasma metabolic parameters like urea nitrogen, triglycerides and glucose, and plasma oxidative parameters like hydrogen peroxidase, glutathione transferase and total antioxidant were not significantly affected by grouping size. But, the positive effect was recorded for the large group size.
2- The effect of different selective feeding insignificant effect on all plasma parameters. Rabbits fed the control diet without hay+hay fed ad libitum recorded the positive effect.
3- Rabbit’s effect of the interaction between grouping size and selective feeding had insignificant effect on all plasma parameters investigated except glucose.
C. Behaviour:
group of 8 rabbits/cage during period 6-7 week had significant effect on grooming (as maintenance) and moving (as active) and stretch behaviours. Increasing group size during post weaning caused to increase maintenance and stretch behaviours that were positive effects. In the period 10-12 weeks of age, the rabbits had same trend in grooming and stretch while the moving behaviour shifted to high. During the 24-h video recording, the rabbits in individual and bicellular cages spent less time allogrooming (0.34% and 0.19% v. 1.44%), moving (0.74% and 0.60% v. 1.32%) and running (0.08% and 0.03% v. 0.21%) than the rabbits in the collective cages.
Effect of selective feeding on behavioural parameters during the period 6-7 week, the rabbits fed hay ad-libitum record lowest value in the rabbits are had aggressive behavior and followed by the rabbits fed limited hay. In the period 10-12 week of age, the rabbits had same trend in aggressive behavior, but the aggressive behavior was reducing significantly (P<0.05) with increasing the age as observed in the rabbits fed hay ad-libitum.
These were significant effects of the interaction between group size and the selective feeding on different behavioural parameters. Grooming as maintenance parameter and stretch as inactive parameter were highest values in the rabbits housed in 8 rabbits/cage (G2) and fed hay ad-libitum (T3). The lowest values in aggressive and moving as active parameters observed in the rabbits housed in 8 rabbits/cage (G2) and fed hay ad-libitum (T3). Also, the best result in body weight and body gain was observed in the interaction between large group size and the rabbits fed hay ad libitum.
E. Economical efficiency:
1- Data depicted that the economical efficiency (EE %) was increase in group 2 than group 1.
2- The net revenue and economic efficiency were highest values in the rabbits fed hay ad-libitum (T2) comparing with the control and hay limited (T1).
3- The economical efficiency (EE %) was improved in the interaction between group2 and rabbits fed the control diet without hay+hay fed ad libitum.
Conclusion
It could be concluded that rabbits housed in large group and fed hay ad-libitum hay was the most effective of the tested objects in reducing abnormal behaviour as aggressive with increasing weight gain.
It is suggested that enriching diets with high in hay makes it possible to decrease the mortality rate in large groups and decrease the problems result from feeding control (commercial) diet that may increase the digestive disease and in the final lead to increase mortality rate also that because rabbits are grassing animals and their digestible system.
The net revenue and economic efficiency were the best in the rabbits fed hay ad-libitum and large groups.
Also, it is concluded that housing rabbits on large group size (8rabbits/cage) and rabbits fed hay ad libtum for growing rabbits could improve behaviour, decrease the mortality rate and increase the dressing weight that also lead to increase the economical efficiency. Additionally, the current study confirmed that the rabbits housed in large group and fed hay ad libtum did not have any negative influence on growth performance traits and blood parameters during the whole experimental period.
Therefore, the present results suggest housing growing rabbits on large group 8 rabbits in cage and fed hay ad libtum to obtain decrease mortality rate and increase the economical efficiency for the breeder.