This study carried out to determine the effects of substitution 25 and 50% of clover hay with discarded palm fronds (DPF) or biologically treated discarded palm fronds (Bio-DPF) in does diet on reproductive, physiological response and economic efficiency of New Zealand White (NZW) rabbit does. Twenty five New Zealand White (NZW) does aged 5 months weighting 3140± 26.55g were randomly distributed into 5 experimental treatments (5 does/ treatment). Experimental diets were as follows: diet 1: A control without substitution, while in the other diets contained 5 and 10% untreated and treated discarded palm fronds with Effective microorganisms (EM 1) to substitute 25 and 50% of clover hay of control diet. Results could be summarized as follows: Biological treatments was improved chemical composition of DPF which mainly CP content was markedly increased but CF was decreased. Inclusion of Bio-DPF in does diet affected significantly both daily feed intake and change in weight of does during gestation and suckling period compared with other treatments. Diets with Bio-DPF significantly (P≤ 0.05) achieved the best figures for litter size of and weights from birth up to weaning that in turn revealed significant (P≤ 0.05) decreased in mortality rate (%) as compared to group fed diet contain 50% DPF. Feeding the does on diets contained Bio-DPF significantly (P≤ 0.05) produced the highest milk yield. Data showed significantly increased in total protein and globulin with Bio-DPF. However, there were significantly decrease in the value of plasma cholesterol and total lipids for rabbits fed on 50%DPF and Bio-DPF. 6-It can be noticed that rabbits fed on the diets contained Bio-DPF had the best economic return compared to other treatments.

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of supplementing the rabbit diets with Eucalyptus globulus dried leaves (EGL) or its aqueous extract (EGE) on growth performance, nutrients digestibility and blood constituents. A total number of 225 weaned New Zealand White rabbits, six weeks old, were used in this experiment. Treatment groups were ; a control diet (C), T 1 and T 2 were the control diet + 0.25 or 0.5% dried eucalyptus leaves, respectively, T 3 and T 4 were the control diet + 0.05 or 0.1% aqueous extract of eucalyptus leaves, respectively, The growth trail lasted for 8 weeks. At the end of the trial, digestibility nutrient trails were done and nutritive values were calculated, then rabbits were slaughtered and blood samples were obtained. The obtained results could be summarized as follows: Providing rabbit diets with EGL; EGA significantly (P<0.01) increased final live weight, body weight gain and, feed conversion ratio, especially at 0.25% EGL compared to the control. The best FCR were reported to the groups contain 0.25% EGL followed by 0.05% EGE. The digestibility coefficients for OM, CP and nutritive values in terms DCP and TDN of the experimental diets significantly increased with EGL and EGE feeding. Supplemented EGL or EGE to the diets significantly increased (P<0.05) values of hemoglobin concentration, RBC's, WBC's count and percentage of lymphocytes. Both EGL and EGE significantly increased blood total protein and albumin, also decreased triglycerides and total cholesterol and has no effect on creatinine and the activity of AST and ALT. It could suggested that using eucalyptus as feed additives for growing rabbits improve growth performance and digestibility, with no adverse effects on blood constituents.

ilk thistle seed extract consists mainly of flavonolignans, which include silybin (silibinin), sylichrisitn, and silydianin that commonly referred to Silymarin. A total number of thirty six, 9-10 month old New-Zealand white muliparous does, with an average weight of 3641g ± 94.02 were used to evaluate the response to dietary supplementation with ethanolic milk thistle extract (MTE) containing 70% silymarin on some performance aspects during pregnancy and lactation periods. Does were allocated to 4 experimental groups, 9 does of each. Rabbits were fed the experimental diets started one month before first mating. Does were allowed to the following treatments; a control group was fed a basal diet without MTE (T1), then the 2 nd , 3 rd , and 4 th were fed the basal diet supplemented with 3ml, 6ml or 9ml MTE/kg diet, respectively and abbreviated as 3MTE (T2), 6MTE (T3) and 9MTE (T4), respectively. The trail was ended after pregnant period and nursering kits till weaning. The results indicate that feed intake during pregnancy (except T2) and lactation , litter weight at birth and weaning (except T2) were significantly (P≤0.05) increased by supplementing does diets with MTE at 6 or 9ml/kg diet compared to the control. Also, litter size at birth and litter size at weaning (except T2) were significantly (P≤0.05) higher with MTE supplementation compared to the control. Milk production significantly (P≤0.05) was the highest in 9MTE group for the first four weeks compared with the control. Plasma prolactin hormone was significantly (P≤0.05) improved gradually by enriched does diet with MTE, but liver enyzmes (AST & ALT) was insignificantly higher in all MTE groups compared to the control. It could be concluded that adding milk thistle seed extract to does diets enhanced their performance during gestation and lactation periods, in term of increased their milk production and litter weight at birth and weaning.

O ne of the main reasons for the low productivity of farm animals, especially rabbits, is climatic changes because they have thick fur and lack of sweat glands, which makes them suffer from excessive heat loss, which affects their productivity. The growth and reproduction rates of adult female rabbits are affected as a result of exposure to severe heat stress (30-31 ºC) (Marai et al., 2001). The consequences of exposure to high temperatures on rabbits were shown in terms of low pregnancy rate, fetal growth, birth size, birth weight and milk production, and mortali-ty before and after weaning increase (Morsy and Abd El-Lateif, 2017).Rabbits are characterized by critical physiological and hormonal changes during their reproductive cycle, making them more susceptible to these climatic influences (Mady, et al., 2018). The solution was to find effective nutritional supplement alternatives to improve the harmful effects of heat stress (El-Kholy et al., 2018;Hashem et al., 2021). Turmeric (Curcuma longa) is phytogenic additives, rich in research ArticleAbstract | Ninety mature does New-Zealand White rabbits age 6 months and weighting 3.2 kg were assigned randomly into six treatment groups. The treatments were fed basal diet as control (G1), basal diet plus 0.3 % turmeric (G2), 0.05 % MOS® (G3), 0.015 % Biostrong® 510 (G4), 0.05 % MOS +0.3 % turmeric (G5) and 0.05% MOS +0.015 % Biostrong (G6), respectively. Rabbits fed with turmeric, MOS and Biostrong recorded a significant (P≤0.05) increase in doe weight at mating, prepartum, partum and weaning period, and the rate of feed intake increased in the treated groups, especially the G5 through gestation period and the G3 in lactation stage. The milk yield also increased in the rabbits in treated groups, especially the G5, and it appeared clearly in the third parity. Birth size at birth and at weaning, birth weight and milk production were increased (P ≤ 0.05) in all treated groups in compared to the control group. Results have also shown that turmeric, MOS and Biostrong led to a significant increase in total protein, globulin, total antioxidant capacity (TAO), glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and superoxide dismutase (SOD), with significant improve in A/G ratio and decrease malondialdehyde (MDA) in the treated groups in compared to the control group. In conclusion, turmeric, MOS and Biostrong supplements had a beneficial effect as natural antioxidant additives, especially the mixture among them, by protecting against oxidative stress factors caused by pregnancy and lactation in female rabbits under heat stress.

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