الفهرس 
INTRODUCTIONOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
 |  | from | 166 |  |  |
| | | from | 166 | | |
Abstract
The present study was carried out at Noubria Experimental Station, by-products utilization Department, Animal production Research Institute, Agriculture Research center, Ministry of Agriculture during the period from February to April 2022 to investigate and compare the effects of using aromatic plants oil such as Garlic oil (Allium sativum L.), Basil oil (Ocimum basilicum) and Thyme oil (Thymus vulgaris) and their mixed as natural growth promoter on growth performance, digestibility coefficients carcass characteristics, some blood parameters and economic efficiency of growing rabbits, as well as, antioxidant activities.
The study was done according to the presented experimental design:
Tr Description
1 basal diet (BD) without additives
2 BD with 1 mg propylene glycol /kg diet.
3 BD with garlic oil (GARO) 400 mg/kg diet
4 BD with basil oil (BSO) 400 mg/kg diet
5 BD with thyme oil (THO) 400 mg/kg diet
6 BD with combination of GARO and BSO (200 mg of each /kg diet)
7 BD with combination of GARO and THO (200 mg of each /kg diet)
8 BD with combination of GARO (200mg), BSO (100mg) and THO (100mg) /kg diet
One hundred - twenty male growing New Zealand White (NZW) rabbits six weeks old, with an average live body weight of 637g were randomly divided into eight groups (15 rabbits each). The 1st group (T1) was fed the basal diet (16. 74% CP and 2504 Kcal/ Kg DM) free of additives and served as the control group. The GARO, BO, and TO oils used in this study were sprayed by 400 ml /kg diet v/w on daily pelleted feed intake to avoid loss of some volatile component of oils and to ensure the effect of essential oils in rabbit diets. The duration of the experiment was 8 weeks. At the end of the experimental period, forty rabbits were randomly taken to conduct the digestibility trails to determine the apparent nutrient digestions and nutritive value of experimental diets. While on the other hand three males rabbits of each treatment were randomly chosen for slaughter test and blood samples were collected to determine some blood parameters.
The results indicated that:
1- The rabbits received essential oils and their combinations showed a significant (P<0.05) increase in body weight, and daily body weight gain compared with the control group.
2- The feed consumption showed a significant (P<0.05) increase in the T4 group compared with the control one.
3- All experimental groups recorded a significantly improve (P<0.05) in feed conversion value compared with the control group except the T2 group.
4- The essential oils groups and their combinations did not affect the digestibility of DM, OM, and NFE compared with the control group. The digestibility coefficient for CP, CF, and EE and nutritive values showed significant (P<0.05) higher levels in T3, T4, and T6 groups compared with the control group.
5- Results indicate that all experimental groups except the T2 group recorded significantly higher (p<0.05) values concerning total protein, albumin, and globulin concentrations, concerning the A/G ratio (P<0.01) had a similar trend.
6- While, the experimental groups recorded significantly decreased (p<0.01) values of glucose, urea, AST, triglycerides, total cholesterol, Low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and Very low-density lipoprotein cholesterol concentration except for T2 compared control group.
7- An opposite effect was noticed regarding high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-c), where the values had significantly increased values compared with the control group.
8- The antioxidant activity of TAC, SOD, CAT, and GSH-Px concentrations showed significantly (P<0.01) increased in experimental groups compared to the control group. Concerning immunoglobulin G (IgG), M (IgM) and A (IgA) concentrations had a similar trend.
9- Rabbits fed diet supplemented with GARO (T3) recorded significantly higher hot carcass weight and dressing % comparing with all other groups, while all experimental groups recorded significantly lower abdominal fat than control groups.
10- The treatment groups recorded higher values of economic efficiency and relative economic efficiency compared to the control one.
Conclusion:
It could be recommended that dietary supplementation of essential oils (garlic, basil and thyme oil) at level of 400 mg/kg diet and their combinations (garlic and basil) at level of 200 mg/kg each improved growth performance, physiological response and economic efficiency and can be used as a natural growth promoter in rabbit’s diets. Moreover these natural additives had protective effect due to their composition of natural antioxidents.