Effect of Dietary Ginger (Zingiber officinalis) Powder on Growth Performance, Carcass Characteristics, And Gut Microbiota in Weaned Rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus)

Abstract

This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of dietary ginger powder as a natural feed additive on the growth performance, carcass traits and gut microbiota of growing rabbits. For this purpose, a total of 36 equal-sexed New Zealand white rabbits aged 6 weeks ± 5 days old were randomly assigned into 4 treatments with 3 replicates each. The control animals (T0) received the basal diet without feed additive, while the 3 other groups T1, T2, and T3 respectively received diets 5, 10, and 15 g of ginger/kg of feed. Data was collected on feed intake, body weight gain, carcass indices and gut microbial load. Results revealed that the inclusion of ginger significantly (p<0.05) increased daily feed intake approximately by 16.02 g in T1 (5g ginger) compared to the control. The total feed intake followed the same trend. Daily weight gain increased approximately by 3.46g T3 (15g ginger). The feed conversion ratio was not significantly affected by dietary ginger inclusion. The addition of ginger did not significantly (p>0.05) affect the carcass characteristics of rabbits; However, a reduction was observed in abdominal fat content with approximately 0.81% in T3. Ginger powder in rabbits’ diets caused a decrease in the population of pathogenic microorganisms (gram-positive bacteria) but did not have any effects on total coliforms (gram-negative bacteria). It can therefore be concluded that ginger could be added to growing rabbits’ feed to improve live weight and reduce levels of gram-positive bacteria