The present study aimed to compare the response to supplementing dried moringa leaves (DML) at 0.0, 0.25, 0.50 or 0.75% of the diet or Neo-tetramycin (antimicrobial growth promoter; AGP) added at 3g/l drinking water on performance, nutrients digestibility and blood constituents of 5-week weaning Californian rabbits up to 13 weeks of age. A total of 45 rabbits averaged 640g were used in this study. Rabbits were y equally divided into 5 treatments (4 males +5 females/treatment). All rabbits were kept under the same managerial conditions and never treated with vaccination or medication throughout the experimental period. Results revealed that DML at the rate of 0.50% was significantly the highest final live body weight and total live weight gain as compared to other treatments. All DML groups significantly had higher total feed intake than the control, while no significant with Neo-tetramycin group. Supplemented DML and Neo-tetramycin groups significantly showed better feed conversion ratio compared to the control, and the best results were for rabbits fed 0.5% supplemental DML diet, followed by 0.25% and 0.75% groups.
Incorporation of DML in diets significantly improved digestibility coefficient of crude fiber (CF) and ether extract (EE) while it decreased digestibility of nitrogen free extract (NFE) and had no significant effect on dry matter, organic matter and crude protein digestibilities compared to the control and Neo-tetramycin groups. Plasma total protein, albumin and HDL-cholesterol were significantly increased, while plasma total lipids, tri-glycerides, cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, creatinine and liver ALT and AST were decreased by further increasing DML inclusion level compared to antibiotic and control groups. Also, plasma total antioxidant capacity significantly increased by increasing DML levels in rabbit diets in comparison with antibiotic and control groups.
It is concluded that supplemental dried moringa leaves at the rate of 0.5 or 0.75% of the diet improved growth performance and health status of the rabbits.