This study aimed to improve productive and reproductive performance of female rabbit does during the summer season "hot climate" using vitamin C or cooled water in combination with equine chorionic gonadotropin (eCG) treatment. Sixty New Zealand White rabbit does were assigned to three groups, according to drinking-water treatment: 1) fresh tap water without any supplementation (control, C), 2) cooled drinking water (10-15ºC) (CW), and 3) fresh tap water supplemented daily with added ascorbic acid (1 g/L) (vitamin C). Twenty four hours before mating, does of each group were randomly divided into two subgroups; H does were intravenously injected with 40 IU/doe eCG, while NH does did not receive any hormonal treatment. Productive and reproductive performance were signifi cantly (P<0.05) improved in the treated groups. Kit weights at kindling and weaning were greater (P<0.05) in both vitamin C and cooled water groups than in the control regardless of hormonal treatment. It is worthy noticed that conception rate and litter size at birth were adversely affected by eCG, especially in does drinking vitamin C. The percentage of mature oocytes was lower (P<0.01) in control than in treated groups. The oocyte maturation rate improved after treatment with vitamin C to reach 80% compared to 66% in control group. In conclusion, cool drinking water or vitamin C is recommended for alleviating heat stress during summer in rabbits.
This work aimed to study the response of growing female NZW rabbits to quantitative feed restriction (FR) at 60% of ad-libitum applied and the effect of adding either copper sulfate (CuSO 4 ) and/or sodium bicarbonate (NaHCo 3 ) to drinking water on performance and hepatic expression of apolipoprotein (apoA1), lipoprotein (cholesteryl ester transfer protein CETP, hepatic lipase HL) and insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-1) during the summer period. Over the fattening period, rabbits fed AL during RES period (28-49 day of age) were significantly higher in most growth performance (GP) than RES-group, but all hepatic expression of genes tested decreased in feed restrictions group when compared to control on the other hand, adding either CuSO 4 or NaHCo 3 to drinking water slightly insignificant increase the expression of all the tested gens. When RES. rabbits fed freely after restriction (49-84 days of age). Logically, feed intake (FI) was significantly increased for AL group during FR period while, it was nearly similar, but FCE was more favorable for RES group throughout the whole period. Also, performance index (PI) was significantly higher for RES-groups. All values of carcass traits were significantly affected by FR. However, adding either CuSO 4 or NaHCo 3 to drinking water decreased GP during FR period. It can be concluded that FR had no significant effect on GP and slight decrease in gene expression for IGF-1 and lipoprotein gens, so it can applied FR to produce at slaughter age, rabbits with the same LBW of rabbits fed AL. Also, CuSO 4 or NaHCo 3 in drinking water is more practical to alleviate of heat load under the summer condition of Egypt.Keywords: Growing rabbits, Feed restriction, Copper sulfate, Sodium bicarbonate, Performance, Carcass IntroductionRabbit meat is an important source of protein for human because of its high quality and low fat. But during the summer months in Egypt can generate a state of stress and evoke a combination of behavioral, biochemical and physiological changes causing a reduction in rabbit performance. However, limiting the FI is widespread in animal breeding such as for adjusting the ration to the nutrient requirements or to manage the fattening and the www.ccsenet.org/jas Journal of Agricultural Science Vol. 3, No. 2; June 2011 ISSN 1916-9752 E-ISSN 1916 46 meat quality (Gidenne et al, 2009). Also, an intake restriction is frequency applied for the young rabbit female to avoid excessive fattening troubles (Rommers et al, 2004). However, feed restriction became systematic in much country as a preventive methods against post-weaning digestive disorders Boisot et al, 2004 andBergaoui et al, 2008). Boisot et al. (2003) demonstrated that the interest of a preventive restricted feeding to reduce the negative effect of this disorders on the growth performance of rabbits, they found that a feeding level of 60% was more efficient than 80% in Epizootic Rabbit Enteropathy (ERE) conditions. Moreover, restricted feeding induces compensatory growth by realimination and increas...
A total number of 500 Japanese quail fertile eggs were used to study the effect of in ovo (IO) administration of Nano-Selenium (Nano-Se) and Glutamine (Gln) on hatchability, post hatch performance carcass and some blood biochemical traits. Eggs were divided into five treatments groups and injected just before incubation. The 1 st group was not injected (Negative Control;T1), the 2 nd one was injected with Bovine Serum Albumin (BSA) (Positive control; T2), the 3 rd group was injected with Nano-Se at 2.5 ppb / egg (T3), while, the 4 th (T4) and 5 th (T5) groups were injected with glutamine at 20 and 10 ppm / egg, respectively. The hatched chicks were distributed according to their treatments and reared up to the 6 th week of age. Parameters such as the hatchability, hatchlings weight, productive performance, carcass traits and some blood biochemical indices were estimated. The IO-Gln at 20 ppm (T4) significantly improved hatchability, increased the productive performance of post-hatch quails (carcass weight, gizzard and breast muscles percentages) and enhanced the feed conversion ratio (FCR) compared to other groups. Furthermore, IO with Nano-Se (T3) significantly increased plasma albumin and albumin / globulin (A/G) ratio, and decreased cholesterol and triglycerides levels, while high density lipoprotein (HDL) were significantly increased and low density lipoprotein (LDL) were significantly decreased by IO-Gln (T4 and T5). It could be concluded that using the in ovo administration of Nano-Se and Gln concentration for Japanese quail breeder eggs, had no negative effect on hatchability and could improve post-hatched performance carcass traits, particularly using Gln at a dosage of 20 ppm / egg.
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