Nutritional evaluation of boiled Karaya Gum tree (Sterculia setigera) seed meal on growth performance and nutrient digestibility of rabbits.

Abstract

Nutritional evaluation of boiled Karaya gum tree (Sterculia setigera) (S.S) seed meal was studied using weaned rabbits in a twelve weeks experiment. Three diets were formulated with control diet (A) having 0% S.S. seed meal while diets B and C had 5% and 10% S.S seed meal respectively. Thirty-six mixed breed weaned rabbits with average initial weight of 525g were allocated to the three diets in complete randomized design with twelve rabbits per treatment. At the end of the twelve weeks, digestibility trial was conducted. Feed intake and weight gains were determined. Feed intake and weight gains were higher (P< 0.05) in diets containing S.S. seed meal. Intake, gain and feed conversion ratio were better (P< 0.05) in treatment containing 5% S.S. seed meal than control and 10% S.S. diet. Similarly, nutrient digestibility was also better in B than in A and C. The results had indicated that boiled S.S. seed meal had no negative effect on performance and nutrient digestibility of weaned rabbits and can therefore be included in the diet of rabbits up to 10% level