Leptadenia Hastate and Cedrus Brevifolia Oil: Effect on Growth Performance, Caecal Microbial Population, Fermentation and Haematological Indices of Weaner Rabbits

This experiment was carried out to examine the effect of Leptadenia hastate and Cedrus brevifolia oil dietary supplementation on the growth performance, caecal microbial population, fermentation and some haematological indices of weaner rabbits. Eighty buck growing rabbits of mixed sex with an initial body weight of 618.7 ± 1.8 g and 4– months of age were randomly assigned into four treatments (n=20 each) were used for the 60 days feeding trial. Basal diet was formulated to meet the nutritional standard of growing rabbits according to NRC (2007). The treatments include; A (control): basal diet without oil, B: basal diet supplemented with 200 mg Leptadenia hastate oil per kg DM daily, C: basal diet with 200 mg Cedrus brevifolia oil per kg DM daily and D: basal diet supplemented with 100 mg each of Leptadenia hastate and Cedrus brevifolia oil per Kg DM daily. Leptadenia hastate and Cedrus brevifolia oil supplementation enhanced (p<0.05) average daily weight gain, average daily feed intake while the high crude coriander oil supplementation level decreased feed to gain ratio. Leptadenia hastate and Cedrus brevifolia oil supplementation decreased Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas spp, Streptococcus spp count, ammonia nitrogen and increased the populations (p<0.05) of Lactobacillus spp and total volatile fatty acid. Leptadenia hastate and Cedrus brevifolia oil supplementation increased (p<0.05) the concentration of pack cell volume, haemoglobin, red blood cell and white blood cell but did not influence pH across the treatments (p˃0.05). In conclusion, Leptadenia hastate and Cedrus brevifolia oil supplementation at 200 mg/kg DM feed increased growth performance, inhibits the activities of caecal pathogenic organisms, improved ceacal fermentation and haematological parameters without causing any deleterious effect