Impact of Dietary Supplementation of Grape Seed Powder as an Antioxidant on Growth Performance, Carcass Traits and Blood Constituents of Growing Female Rabbits Under Hot Climate in Egypt

Abstract

This study was done to evaluate growth functionality, carcass characteristics and some blood constituents by using different dietary levels of grape seed powder (GSP) 0, 50, 100 and 150 mg/kg live body weight (LBW) daily 28 days on growing APRI rabbits diet. growing APRI female rabbits having live body weight (LBW) of 757.21g and aged 9 weeks were divided into 4 similar groups. The 1st group was fed a control diet without additives (G1), while the 2 nd , 3 rd and 4 th groups (G2, G3 and G4) were fed a control diet supplemented with 50, 100 and 150 mg powder of grape seeds, respectively. All groups were kept at the same environmental conditions (26.5-32.5 o C and 62-75% RH). Results show that total weight, daily weight gain and relative growth rate were significantly higher (p<0.05) (812.78, 29.03 and 72.15 g) in G3 than other groups. Preslaughter weight, carcass weight and edible giblets percentage were significantly (P<0.05) increased in G3 than the other groups. Concentration of plasma total protein, globulin, HDL and LDL were significantly (P< 0.05) higher in G3 than in other groups. Concentration of plasma total lipids, total cholesterol and triglycerides were decreased significantly (P<0.05) as GSP levels were increased.Malondialdehyde (MDA) superoxide dismutase ((SOD), and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-PX) were gradually elevated (P<0.01) by increasing GSP level in the diet.These results suggested that grape seed powder at a level of 100 mg/kg LBW improved growth performance, health status and plasma lipid profile of growing APRI rabbits.