Effect of a starter diet supplementation with mannan-oligosaccharide or inulin on health status, caecal metabolism, digestibility of nutrients and growth of early weaned rabbits

Abstract

The effect of a dietary supplementation with mannan-oligosaccharide (MOS, Bio-Mos, Alltech Inc.) and inulin (Frutafit w IQ) on growth, health, and caecal traits was studied on 348 rabbits (Hyplus w ), weaned at 25 days of age. Three hundred and thirty rabbits (110 per group) were used for the health status and growth performance trial, while 18 rabbits (six per group) were used for caecal metabolism evaluation at the age of 42 days of age. Three diets were formulated: C (control), M (0.3% MOS) and I diet (4% inulin). Digestibility of the diets was measured in 10 rabbits per group between 36 and 40 days of age. The control diet was fed to rabbits of the C group from weaning to 74 days of age (slaughter). Diets M and I were fed to rabbits of the respective group from weaning to 46 days of age, then were fed with control diet till slaughter. From 25 to 46 days of age, the weight gain was slightly higher in control rabbits ( P ¼ 0.11), while no differences were recorded for the whole period. No differences among groups in the mortality, which was high due to an enteropathy-infected environment, were significant. The lowest morbidity ( P ¼ 0.05) as well as the health risk index were recorded in rabbits fed the diet with inulin ( P ¼ 0.03). After change of diet, the health risk index increased in the rabbits previously fed the diet with additives, thereby no significant differences in the health status were recorded for the whole period. Total caecal volatile fatty acids concentration was higher ( P , 0.01) and the pH ( P , 0.01) and ammonia concentration ( P ¼ 0.01) lower in rabbits fed the inulin diet than in other rabbits. In these animals, acetate molar proportion was higher ( P ¼ 0.01) and that of propionate as well as the propionate/butyrate ratio significantly lower than in other rabbits. Butyrate molar proportion was higher in rabbits fed the diet with MOS ( P , 0.01). In rabbits fed the inulin diet a higher activity of inulinase was recorded ( P , 0.001) than in other rabbits. A significantly lower digestibility of cellulose was observed in rabbits fed the diet with MOS. The results of our study suggest the importance of using inulin-type fructans in the nutrition of young rabbits. The higher health risk index of rabbits after change of diets indicates that prebiotics should be given for a longer time during the fattening period.

Dried chicory root (Cichorium intybus L.) as a natural fructan source in rabbit diet: effects on growth performance, digestion and caecal and carcass traits

“…Our results are in agreement with the described importance of inulin-type fructans in rabbit nutrition regarding caecal fermentative activity (Morisse et al, 1993;Maertens et al, 2004;Volek et al, 2005;Castellini et al, 2007;Volek et al, 2007;Juśkiewicz et al, 2008). In the present study, dietary supplementation with dried chicory root affected the total caecal concentrations of VFA and the pH when compared with the control diet; these differences were apparently associated with a non-significant lower incidence of diarrhoea in rabbits fed the Chicory 10 diet (Gidenne and Licois, 2005).…”

“…In rabbits, it has been shown that a diet containing inulin-type fructans affects the caecal microbial activity, morbidity and growth rate in a beneficial way (Morisse et al, 1993;Maertens et al, 2004;Volek et al, 2005Volek et al, , 2007Eiben et al, 2008) or not (Bónai et al, 2010).…”

Effect of mannan oligosaccharides on rabbit performance, digestibility and rectal bacterial anaerobic populations during an episode of epizootic rabbit enteropathy.

“…Furthermore, the MOS0.5 group always showed lower digestibility coefficients than the MOS1.0 group. Volek et al (2007) found lower mortality rates with rabbits weaned at 25 d of age and fed MOS at 3 g/kg and also lower digestibility coefficients (measured at 40 d of age) for organic matter, crude protein and cellulose compared to the control group (without additives). Mourao et al (2006) found no differences in feed conversion ratio in rabbits fed antibiotics compared to those fed MOS at three different concentrations (1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 g/kg), whereas the MOS groups showed significantly (P<0.05) lower feed conversion ratios than the control group without additives.…”

Effect of inulin supplementation and age on growth performance and digestive physiological parameters in weaned rabbits

“…In similar experiments, supplementation of the diet with 4% inulin had no effect on the weight gain of rabbits (Volek et al, 2005 and. While inclusion of 4% inulin had no effect on feed intake (Volek et al, 2007), 4% inulin in Table 3: Effect of medication and inulin inclusion on caecal digesta traits in weanling rabbits 1 . 1 n=6 rabbit/age and treatment.…”

“…Reported effect on performance of rabbits varied from little or no effect on weight gain (0.75-3.75 % inclusion, Luick et al, 1992;4% inclusion, Volek et al, 20054% inclusion, Volek et al, , 2007, live weight (0.25% inclusion, Morisse et al, 1993;2% inclusion, Maertens et al, 2004) and mortality (Volek et al, 2005(Volek et al, , 2007, whereas inulin increased caecal volatile fatty acid concentration (Volek et al, 2005(Volek et al, , 2007.…”