Growth performance and antioxidant status of growing rabbits fed on diets supplemented with Eucommia ulmoides leaves

Abstract

<p>The present study evaluated the effect of dietary <em>Eucommia ulmoides leaves</em> (EUL) on growth performance and antioxidant status of growing rabbits under heat stress condition. Four hundred and fifty weaned New Zealand male rabbits (6 wk old) were randomly divided into 3 equal groups (150 rabbits/group) and fed with a basal diet (control, digestible energy (DE): 15.92 MJ/kg and crude protein (CP): 19.24%) or the basal diet supplemented with 1 or 5 g of EUL/kg of diet (EUL1 and EUL5), in which the same quantity of barley meal was replaced. During the 21 d of experiment (43 to 63 d of age), the temperature and relative humidity of the rabbit house ranged from 27.5 to 32.5°C and from 65 to 73%, respectively. We analysed feed intake, growth performance and antioxidant status of growing rabbits. Compared with the control group, at the end of the experimental period, EUL supplementation significantly reduced the average daily feed intake (92.0, 92.8 and 100.7 g/d for EUL1, EUL5 and control, respectively; P<0.05), improved the feed conversion ratio (3.80, 3.81 and 4.59 for EUL1, EUL5 and control, respectively; P<0.05), increased the activities of glutathione peroxidase (+35.5 and +35.0% in plasma and liver of rabbits in EUL5 vs. control group, respectively; P<0.05) and reduced those of malondialdehyde (–12.0 and –46.0% in plasma and liver of rabbits in EUL5 vs. control group, respectively; P<0.05). These results suggest that inclusion of EUL in the diet of growing rabbits improved the growth performance and antioxidant status in growing rabbits.</p>

Performance, haemato-biochemical indices and antioxidant status of growing rabbits fed on diets supplemented with Mucuna pruriens leaf meal

“…The consequences of exposure of rabbits to ambient temperature outside their thermal neutrality zone (21 to 25°C) are impaired growth, feed intake and utilisation (Brewer and Cruise, 1994;Marai et al, 2002), and heat stress is also one of the factors causing oxidative stress in the tropics (Kumar et al, 2011). Previous studies had identified the intestinal mucosa damage and increased muscle protein hydrolysis being caused by temperature-induced free radicals as the possible cause of thermal stress-induced impaired growth performance (Yuan et al, 2007;Jimoh et al, 2017, Li et al, 2018. In this study, dietary supplementation of rabbit diets with MLM at 8 or 12 g/kg caused increased average body weight gain and average daily weight gain of the rabbits when compared to the control.…”

“…Therefore, the anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activities in the intestinal mucosa may result in maintenance of healthy gut morphology (Kamel, 2000), improved increased nutrient absorption and enhanced growth (Cardoso et al, 2012) as recorded in this study. Previously, Li et al (2018) reported improved daily weight gain, average feed intake in rabbits' whose diets were supplemented with 1 or 5 g/kg Eucommia ulmoides leaves, while Ayodele et al (2016) reported improved feed conversion ratio in rabbits fed on 5 or 10% alchornea leaf meal inclusion diets. However, further studies are required to study the effect of MLM on the morphology of the rabbits' intestinal mucosa.…”

“…This condition enhances the generation of free radicals, which if not adequately removed could cause irreversible damage to cells (Tawfeek et al, 2014;Meineri et al, 2017). The importance of antioxidant enzymes, particularly in animals being raised under high ambient temperature, in eliminating the oxygen free radicals being induced by excessive heat has been reported (Masella et al, 2005;Li et al, 2018). Results from this study showed that dietary MLM supplementation could increase the levels of blood GPx and CAT in rabbits, implying that heat stress-induced oxidative destruction could be reduced in rabbits by dietary MLM supplementation.…”

“…Dietary manipulation has been identified as the most affordable method of alleviating the negative effect of high ambient temperature in the tropics, as the high cost of cooling animal pens is unaffordable W o r l d R a b b i t S c i e n c e for farmers (Konca et al, 2009). Therefore, the use of diets rich in natural antioxidants as a means of removing excessive free radicals from the animal's body and consequent alleviation of high-temperature negative effects on animal production is becoming popular (Liu et al, 2010;Kone et al, 2016;Zeweil and Elgindy, 2016;Li et al, 2018).…”

Neem, pawpaw and bamboo leaf meal dietary supplementation in broiler chickens: Effect on performance and health status

“…The effect of the different leaf meals supplementation on body weight gain (BWG), feed intake (FI) and FCR are presented in The flavonoids and phytate were reported to produce antioxidant effects (Makkar, Siddhuraju, & Becker, 2007;Middleton, Kandaswani, & Theoharides, 2000). Antioxidant effects reduce intestinal mucosa damage and muscle protein hydrolysis being caused by free radicals (Jimoh, Ewuola, & Balogun, 2017;Li et al, 2018). The phytochemicals (e.g., flavonoids and phytate) present in these leaf meals could have produced antioxidant and free radical scavenging activities to maintain the integrity of the intestinal mucosa and promote growth performance (Yuan, Chen, Zhang, & Yu, 2007).…”