A Comparative Study for Adding Almond Hulls or Its Extract in the Diets on the Performance of Growing Rabbits

The aim of current study was to evaluate the impact of addition two levels of dried almond hulls (DAH) or its extract (AHE) in growing rabbits diets on body weight change, nutrients digestibility, cecum parameters and microbiota count, carcass characteristics, blood constituents, and liver antioxidant enzymes. Seventy-five male NZW rabbits (aged 42 days in average) were randomly and equally allocated for five groups and fed individually on the experimental diets as follow, basal diet which was the control diet (C), basal diet with 200 ppm (DAH1) and 400 ppm (DAH2) dried almond hulls addition, basal diet with added 200 ppm (AHE1) and 400 ppm (AHE2) almond hulls extract in feeding trial lasted 70 days, followed by digestibility trial. The results indicated that all of additions increased rabbits weight gain compared to C group and the best weight gain was observed with AHE2 followed by AHE1, DAH2, DAH1. The same trend was found with and nutritive values and digestibility parameters which were higher (P<0.05) for all nutrients, except for the digestibility of nitrogen free extract, of the diets containing different levels of AHE followed by DAH compared to the C group without significant effect of addition levels. Addition of DAH or AHE decreased microbiota count in the cecum (P<0.05) and increased carcass weight compared to C. All blood parameters were within normal range, at the same time DAH or AHE increased serum total antioxidant capacity and hepatic antioxidant enzymes. It can be concluded that adding dried almond hulls or its extrcte up to 400 ppm are beneficial additives as growth promoters in growing rabbits' diets and have high economical efficiency.