HEAMATOLOGICAL AND SERUM BIOCHEMICAL PROFILE OF WEANER RABBITS FED GRADED LEVELS OF SESAME SEED CAKE DIETS.

Abstract

In a feeding experiment, 45 weaner rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) of mixed breeds with an average weight of 722-750g were used to evaluate the inclusion of different dietary levels ofsesame seed cake diets on haematology and blood chemistry profile of weaner rabbits. The rabbits were randomly assigned to the dietary treatments in a completely randomized design with nine rabbits per treatment at three rabbits per replicate and fed with diets containing 0, 25, 50, 75 and 100 % sesame seed cake in diets designated as T1 (control), T2, T3, T4 and T5, respectively.At the end ofthe feeding trial (8 weeks), blood samples were collected from the marginal ear vein of three rabbits selected from each treatment, one from each replicate for haematological and biochemical analysis. Proximate analysis of the sesame seed cake on dry matter basis indicated that it contained 4.80 % moisture, 25.50 % crude protein 29.33 % ether extract 4.50 % crude fibre 5.25 % ash and30.62 % nitrogen free extract. There were no significant (P>0.05) effect on haemoglobin, Packed Cell Volume (PCV), Red Blood Cell count (RBC), White Blood Cell count (WBC) between treatment groups except for neutrophil, lymphocyte and eosinophil that showed significant (p0.05) differences for blood glucose globulin, cholesterol, creatinine, albumin, total protein urea, bicarbonates, potassium and chlorine but there was significant P