الفهرس 
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Abstract
The present study was carried out at the breeding rabbit unit that belonging to the Poultry
Research Center of the Poultry Production Department, Faculty of Agriculture (ElShatby),
Alexandria University, during the period from January to April, 2017. This work aimed to
evaluate the effects of adding two sources of antioxidants (dried red beetroot & commercial
betaine) to the diets of both growing and bucks of the Alexandria rabbit line on the productive,
reproductive and physiological characteristics. Moreover, meat quality traits of the growing
rabbits were measured. In both bucks and and growing rabbits experiments, there were similar
5 treatments as follow: the first treatment was the control group, whereas the basic diet was
givin to rabbits without any complementary additives. The second and third treatments were
given 5.0 and 1 kg of dired red beetroot per 100 kg of diet, respectively: and the fourth and fifth
treatments were given 100 and 200g of commercial betaine per 100 kg of diet, respectively.
The main results of this study can be summarized in the following points:
First Experiment (Buck Study):
1- The final buck BW showed highly significant differences in control vs. treatments
comparison, while it being insignificant in the other studied comparisons (beetroot 0.5% vs.
beetroot 1%, betaine (Bet) 0.1% vs. Bet 0.2% and beetroot vs. Bet). The beetroot and Bet
treatments have significantly heavier final BW compared to those of control treatment
(3407.50 and 3315.00g, respectively).
2- The results observed that reaction period of mating have significant differences only in
control vs. treatments comparison, while it being insignificant in the other studied
comparisons. The bucks of different beetroot and Bet treatments have significantly faster
time of reaction compared to those of control treatment (11.71 and 13.45 seconds,
respectively).
3- The results showed that the ejaculate volume values have significant differences in control
vs. treatments comparison, while it being insignificant within the other studied comparisons.
The different beetroot and Bet treatments have significantly higher ejaculate volume
compared to those of control treatment (0.75 and 0.59 ml, respectively).