Impact of dietary Moringa oleifera leaves on intestinal pathogenic load and histological structure of growing rabbits raised under heat-stress conditions

Abstract

Forty-five growing New Zealand White (NZW) male rabbits weighed 750.0 ± 5.8 g aged 6 weeks were used in a feeding experiment lasting 56 days. Rabbits were housed in a semi-climatic chamber at a mean ambient temperature of 33.1°C and relative humidity of 43%. The rabbits were placed in three equal groups of five replicates. The first group was fed on free moringa diet (control, R1), while R2 and R3 groups were fed diets supplemented with 0.5% and 1.0% moringa dry leaves respectively. Daily feeds and water were offered ad libitum. At the end of the feeding period, three random animals of each group were slaughtered to investigate intestinal and caecal contents of pathogens and changes of intestinal and caecal tissues. The results indicated that there were no statistical differences among groups concerning daily feed intake, average daily gain and feed conversion ratio; however, slight improvement was noticed with rabbits fed R3. Intestinal microbial load, namely total plate count of Salmonella, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Clostridium perfringens and mould, was reduced (P < 0.01) with R2 and R3 diets compared with the control (R1). A similar trend was also noticed on caecal microbial load. Histological examination of jejunum tissues showed clear increases in villus height, villus : crypt ratio and obvious depth of caecal tunica mucosa, which might reveal better absorption of nutrients and microbial metabolites. It could be concluded that rabbits fed moringa-supplemented diets showed better feed conversion and intestinal and caecal histological structure, with clear reduction of gastro-intestinal pathogenic bacterial load under the hot climatic conditions.

Dietary Sugar Beet Tops and Prebiotic Effect on Nutrient Digestibility, Caecal Activity and Organ Histology of Weaning Rabbits

“…These findings support our results, where the crypts occupy most of the lamina propria layer, especially in sections from rabbits fed SBT plus prebiotic enriched diets. Similar observations were also reported by El-Badawi et al (2017) who used different levels of moringa leaves in rabbit nutrition. Note.…”

Response of Japanese quails (Coturnix coturnix japonica) to dietary inclusion of Moringa oleifera essential oil under heat stress condition

“…The leaves of M. oleifera contain minerals (potassium, calcium, phosphorus and iron), vitamins (A, D, and C), carotenoids (neoxanthin, violaxanthin, b-cryptoxanthin, b-carotene epoxide, b-carotene, and lutein), phenolic acids (gallic, chlorogenic, ellagic and ferulic acid) and flavonoids (zeaxanthin, quercetin, kaempferol, and apigenin) (Teixeira et al 2014;Helal et al 2018). Previous studies suggest that MOEO positively affects growth performance (Ayssiwede et al 2011;Onu and Aniebo 2011;Cui et al 2018), shows no adverse effect on blood parameters (Onu and Aniebo 2011), reduces oxidative stress (Helal et al 2018) and antimicrobial effects (El-Badawi et al 2018).…”

Prospects for the Use of Minerals in Rabbit Nutrition

“…У порівнянні з іншими сільськогосподарськими тваринами, кролі більш чутливі до теплового стресу, оскільки здатні регулювати температуру тіла у вузькому діапазоні, через відсутність потових залоз. Підвищення температури довкілля негативно впливає на здоров'я кролів, зокрема порушується ендокринна регуляція, імунна та репродуктивна функція, що призводить до зниження продуктивності та збільшення загибелі тварин 59,60,61,62 . Прогнозується, що глобальне потепління зростатиме протягом наступних кількох десятиліть, якщо викиди парникових газів продовжуватимуть збільшуватися 63 .…”