Effect of Different Levels on Some Physiological and Productive Parameters of Local Rabbits in Iraq

This study was conducted in the poultry farm located in the Department of Animal Production, Faculty of Agriculture, Tikrit University, during the period from 1 March to 1 April 2023 (30 days), to evaluate the effect of dietary addition of different levels of algae powder (0, 2.4 g/kg concentrate) on productive performance and some physiological traits in rabbits. This experiment used 12 local female rabbits aged 9-10 months with an average body weight of 1563.12 ± 30.08 g. The rabbits were distributed into four treatments: the first (T1) was considered as a control treatment (without addition), the second (T2) and the third (T3) treatments were fed diets with algae powder at levels of 2 and 4 g/kg concentrated feed, respectively. The results indicated that the use of powder (2 and 4 g/kg feed concentrate (T2 and T3) led to a significant (P<0.05) increase in final body weight, packed cell volume (PCV), blood hemoglobin (Hb), and blood counts of red blood cells (RBC), and concentration of total protein, albumin, and high-density lipoproteins (HDL) and a significant (P<0.05) decrease in the number of white blood cells, and concentration of cholesterol, triglycerides, low-density lipoproteins (LDL), very low-density lipoproteins (VLDL), and liver enzymes (AST and ALT) in the blood serum of treated animals as compared to control (T1). In conclusion, dietary supplementation of powder at 2 Or 4 g/kg concentrated feed improved growth performance and healthy status of local female rabbits in Iraq.