Effects of Rosemary and Marjoram Supplementation on Growth Performance, Digestibility and Economic Efficiency of Growing Rabbits

Abstract

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of dietary inclusion of different levels of Rosemary and Marjoram plants ongrowth performance and digestion coefficientsof New Zealand White (NZW) rabbits.Seventy two weaned rabbits were divided into six groups. The 1 st group was fed basal diet and served as control group, the 2 nd and 3 rd groups were fed the basal diet supplementedwithRosemary dry plant powder (1.5% and 3.0%, respectively), 4 th and 5 th groups were fed the basal diet supplemented with Marjoram dryplant powder (1.5% and 3.0%, respectively), the 6 th group was fed the basal diet supplemented with mixture of (1. 5% Rosemary dry +1.5% Marjoram dry).At the end of the experiment eighteen rabbit males were used in digestibility trail. Carcass traits and blood metabolites were determined by slaughtering 3 rabbits from each group at the end of the growth period. The obtained results revealed that,final body weight and daily body weight gain were significantly (P≤0.05) higher with 1.5 % rosemary, 1.5 % marjoram and their mixture compared to control and other treatment groups. Feed conversion significantly (P≤0.05) improved in rabbits fed diet containing 1.5% marjoram compared with control group. Also, rabbits fed diet supplemented with 1.5% marjoramshowed the lowest (P≤0.05) feed intake compared with control group and other treatments. The digestibility of DM, OM, CP and EE and NFE, significantly (P≤0.05) improved with diet supplemented with 1.5% rosemary. The same trend was observed in TDN%. However, The DCP % in rabbits fed diet supplemented with 1.5 % rosemary and 1.5 % marjoram was significantly (p≤0.05) higher than of those the other diets. Rabbits fed diet with 1.5% rosemary and 3% marjoram significantly increased dressing percentage.

Productive and Physiological Effects of Chamomile and Rosemary Aqueous Extract on New Zealand White Growing Rabbits.

“…In addition, Al-Jamal and Algadi (2011) reviewed that rosemary has anti-diabetic properties in terms of improving glucose utilization and oxidative metabolism of diabetic states in rats. The results of our study agreement with those reported by Hamden et al (2008) and Bakr et al (2017) they indicated that rabbits received chamomile and rosemary were significantly reduced serum glucose when compared to control group.…”

Struggling Thermal Stress Impacts on Growth Performance and Health Status of Newly Weaned Rabbits Using Nanoemulsion of Origanum majorana Considering the Economic Efficiency of Supplementation

“…The marjoram essential oil nanoemulsion (MEOE) has strong antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and antimicrobial abilities [17]. It has considerable amounts of terpinenes (e.g., terpinen-4-ol, trans-sabinene-hydrate, γ-terpinene, α-terpinene, carvacrol, and thymol) [18][19][20].…”

Origanum majorana Essential Oil Ameliorated the Behavioral, Biochemical, Physiological and Performance Perturbations Induced by Aflatoxin B1 in Growing Rabbits

“…MEO addition in rabbit diet alone or added to the AFB1 fed rabbits improved their BW, FI and FCR to normal values. In support, Bakr et al (2017) and Seleem et al (2007) reported enhanced final BW and WG in growing rabbits fed on diets supplemented with marjoram. Similar improved growth performance response was obtained by Ahmed and Abdel-Ghany (2015) and Ali (2014) in broiler and turkey respectively.…”

“…The enhanced performance with MEO feeding could be associated with their content of the active components (as shown in Figure 1), which was documented to have antimicrobial, antioxidant and antifungal activities (Bina and Rahimi, 2017;Kaskatepe et al, 2022). These active substances positively improved the lower gut health, enhanced the efficiency of digestion and nutrients and this reflected on rabbit growth performance (Bakr et al, 2017). In the same context, some recent studies documented the antifungal activities of essential oils of O. majorana (Amor et al, 2019;Ben Salha et al, 2019;Chaudhari et al, 2020) which accounted this effect to its contents of oxygenated monoterpenes particularly terpinen-4-ol, α-terpinol and α-pinene.…”