NUTRIENT INTAKE AND DIGESTIBILITY OF RABBIT BUCKS FED GRADED LEVELS OF FERMENTED AFRICAN LOCUST BEAN (Parkia biglobosa)

Abstract

The experiment was conducted at the Rabbit Unit of the College of Agriculture, Bauchi, in Bauchi local government Area of Bauchi state,, Nigeria, for a period of 8 weeks, to investigate the effects of feeding male rabbit graded levels of fermented African Locust Bean Meal (ALBM) on nutrient intake and digestibility Completely randomized design (CRD) was used to allot the experimental diets to the experimental animals. Five dietary treatment levels were formulated as T1, T2, T3, T4 and T5. Each treatment was replicated four times, with two rabbits per unit which made a total number of 40 experimental bucks. The bucks weighed between 1.5-2.0 kg. The experimental diets were fed twice a day (morning and evening) and lasted for 8 weeks and clean drinking water was provided ad-libitum. The nutrient intake was determined from the feed intake values and the proximate composition of the concentrate diets The experimental animals were moved into metabolic crates for fecal collection. The collection lasted for 1 week after an adjustment period of 1 week, the fecal samples was packed, dried and analyzed for their proximate composition Using standard procedure (AOAC 1995), and there after the proximate composition was used to compute dry matter and nutrient digestibility. The data obtained were subjected to statistical analysis of one-way analysis of variance using (SPSS) version 25, 2017. The means were separated using Least Significant Difference. The crude protein content of the experimental Diets, Dried African Locust Bean Meal and Fermented African Locust Bean Meal ranged from 16.02% to 18.14%. The metabolizable energy ranged from 3025.77 to 3.45.74 keal/kg. Dry matter intake ranged from 80.66 – 108 g/day , while crude protein intake ranged from 28.06 - 37.70%, both were significantly different Dry matter digestibility range of 72.30 – 88.50%, which also showed significant(P 0.05) differences across the treatments indicates high digestibility.Crude protein digestibility ranged from 66.30 – 89.10% , it increased steadilt from T1 – T4, and showed significant differences, crude fibre digestibility ranged from 65.00 – 83% and followed similar tend with crude protein .In conclusion, Diets containing graded levels of African locust bean contained better array of nutrients than the control The treatments containing graded levels of African locust bean had better digestibility values than the control. The following recommendations were made i Fermented African locust bean can be included in concentrate diets for rabbits for improved nutrient intake and digestibility ii. Further research to assess cost implications