Submit Manuscript

Asian Journal of Animal and Veterinary Advances

Year: 2022 | Volume: 17 | Issue: 2 | Page No.: 44-52
Facebook Twitter Digg Reddit Linkedin StumbleUpon E-mail

Article Trend

Total views 103

Authors

N.W. Anizoba

N.W. Anizoba

S.C. Ugwoke

P.P. Nwuju

N.E. Ikeh

C.C. Nwoga

N.S. Machebe

Keywords

Background and Objective: Zinc is important for several biological processes which are required by different species of animals at different ages of their life for maximum production and reproduction. This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of dietary Zinc (Zn) oxide on physiological, reproductive performance and growth rate of growing rabbits. Materials and Methods: Thirty-six New Zealand white rabbit bucks aged 4 months and with an initial average body weight of 2440 g were randomly allocated into 4 treatment groups containing 9 rabbit and fed diets containing 0, 50, 100 and 150 mg of zinc oxide per kg diet, respectively, for ten weeks in a Completely Randomized Design (CRD). Results: That zinc oxide supplementation significantly affected (p<0.05) most of the growth performances parameters, testicular characteristics, serum antioxidant enzyme assay and haematological characteristics except initial weight, right testis length, left testis length, right testis weight Aspartate Aminotransferase (AST), Superoxide Dismutase (SOD) and white blood cells which were not significant (p>0.05). Conclusions: From these findings, we conclude that 100 mg of zinc oxide per kg diet supplementation was adequate to improve the physiological traits, productive and reproductive performance of rabbit buck while reducing the antioxidant stress factors in the semen thereby maintaining the integrity of the sperm without adverse effect on the animal.
PDF Fulltext XML References Citation

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *