GREENER JOURNAL OF ANIMAL BREEDING AND GENETICS

ISSN: 2384-6429

Submitted: 12/07/2017                    Accepted: 14/07/2017                    Published: 30/07/2017

Research Article (DOI: http://doi.org/10.15580/GJABG.2017.3.071217084)

Effects of Water Leaf (Talinum triangulare) Shoot Meal on the Performance of Weaner New Zealand White Rabbits

Ahaotu E.O.*¹ and Mbaegbu I.

^1*Department of Animal Production and Health Technology, Imo State Polytechnic Umuagwo, Nigeria.

*Corresponding Author’s E-mail: emmaocy@ yahoo. com

ABSTRACT

Thirty (30) weaner New Zealand white rabbits of both sexes, made up of fifteen (15) males and fifteen (15) females were used for the experiment to investigate, the performance characteristics and carcass characteristics of weaner rabbits fed five (5) dietary levels of Talinum triangulare shoot meal (TTSM). Treatments 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 received 0, 10, 15, 20 and 25% TTSM, respectively. Results obtained showed that rabbits on T₂ diet achieved the corresponding weight gain (1876.00) while T₁, T_3, T₄ and T₅ recorded weight gains of (1925.00, 1799, 1743 and 1655), respectively. Rabbits on T₂ diets also recorded a corresponding daily weight gain (74g) than those on T₃, T₄ and T₅ (73g, 68g and 55g), respectively. There was also significant difference (P< 0.05) on the feed cost per kg gain as T₂ feed was cheaper (N191.20), than T₃, T₄ and T₅ whose feed costs were N176.20, N151.10 and N119.70 respectively. Feed intake and initial live weight had no significant difference (P > 0.05) across the treatments. Results of organ weights showed a significant difference (P < 0.05) on the weight of intestine (g), heart weight (g), liver weight (g) and kidney weight (g) respectively. This investigation therefore suggests that New Zealand white rabbits can tolerate Talinum triangulare shoot meal (TTSM) up to 20% level for optimal performance. Higher levels of incorporation resulted in decreased performance and should be discouraged.

Keywords: Talinum triangulare shoot meal, New Zealand White Rabbits, Performance Characteristics, Organ Weight.

INTRODUCTION

In Nigeria where the daily diet is dominated by starchy staples, Nigerian indigenous leafy vegetables are the cheapest and most readily available sources of important proteins, vitamins, especially the pro vitamin A (Mbaegbu, 2012) and essential amino acids. Vegetables are the most widely grown crops in Nigeria. They provide vital food security for many subsistence farmers in the country. Vegetables rank higher in production than all other crops. They are known to provide 80% of the vitamin A in diet (Lussier, 2010). Indigenous vegetables are reported to play a very important role in income generation and subsistence (Orech et al., 2010).

Nigerian leafy vegetables have long been and continue to be reported to significantly contribute to the dietary vitamin and mineral intakes of local populations (Smith and Eyzaguirre,  2007). Water leaf is reported to be grown for its leaves which are rich in beta-carotene, calcium, iron and vitamin C (Nordeide et al., 1996).

One of the solutions to the present animal protein intake deficit in developing economies lies in the intensive utilization of livestock with short generation interval (Ahaotu et al., 2017). Rabbit is an example of micro-livestock and short-cycle animal whose meat is widely accepted. The rabbit has elicited much interest because it is easy to manage, highly prolific breeder, efficient converter of plant products, and requires little capital outlay. Rabbit meat is white, fine grained, low in fat and caloric value, rich in protein and some minerals and vitamins (Ahaotu et al., 2008). The recent high costs of feed ingredients in particular have brought about the need to look inwards for alternative to the conventional feed resources. It is therefore imperative to explore other feed materials that are not useful to human (Oyen and Lemmens, 2002). The limited supplies of raw materials for the feed industry have resulted in a continuous increase in the cost of production, causing a phenomenal rise in the unit cost of products. The increase in the cost of grains in Nigeria has been related to its scarcity as a result of competing for these feed ingredients. To depend on alternative sources of ingredients, especially when it encouraged a shift to ingredients, for which there is less competition, may help if the latter is sufficiently available (Onu et al., 2008).

            Feed cost is always the largest item of expenditure in livestock production and protein sources are the most expensive among the ingredients used for livestock feeds. In the face of increasing challenges to produce cheap and good quality animals and animal products, there is need to intensively explore the use of agricultural and agro-based industrial by-products as replacers, substitutes and complements for the more expensive conventional ones and Talinum triangulare shoot meal (TTSM) is one of such by-products (Duperiez and De Leener, 2009).

Rabbits are not rodents, but are included in a family called Lagomorphs. They are strict herbivores and have continually growing incisors and molars that are designed to tear and macerate very tough leafy foods. The teeth rub against each other and are worn down by the action of eating. Rabbits require a large percentage of fiber in their diet to maintain normal gastrointestinal motility. Rabbits are monogastric animals with enlarged caeca. They are medium sized hopping mammals with long legs, long ears and short tails. Rabbits are mainly reared for their meat and fur. Rabbits also have tremendous capacity for sustainable production of animal protein for human consumption (Ahaotu and Adeyeye, 2014) and could be promoted as a healthful natural meat (Onyeocha and Onyinyechi, 2011).

Alawa and Oyarole (2004) suggested that the best logical solution to Nigeria’s national meat scarcity is to increase rabbit production. In an effort to reduce the cost of rabbit production, rabbit nutritionists have tried to harness and utilize by-products and wastes that are not directly utilized by man. The use of Talinum triangulare shoot meal (TTSM) in rabbit production will improve the mineral profile thus encouraging fecundity rates (Onyekwere et al., 2011).

MATERIALS AND METHODS

This study was carried out at the Rabbit Unit of Imo State Polytechnic Teaching and Research Farm, Umuagwo, Nigeria. The site is situated between longitudes 7^o 0¹ 06¹¹E and 7^o 03¹ 00¹¹ and latitudes 5^o 28¹ 00¹¹N and 5^o 30¹ 00¹¹N in the humid tropical West Africa (IMLS, 2015). Talinum triangulare shoot used for this study was collected from the Botanical garden, Imo State Polytechnic Umuagwo, Nigeria. The shoots were spread on mat and concrete floor to be dried by solar radiation. On drying, the samples were milled. The Talinum triangulare shoot meal was subjected to proximate analysis (Table 1) at the Science Technology Laboratory, Imo State Polytechnic Umuagwo, Nigeria, using standard methods (AOAC, 2001). The mineral analysis was carried out using the methods of Grueling (2000) while gross energy was determined with a Gallen Pump Oxygen Adiabatic Bomb Calorimeter. The samples were also weighed, evaporated in rotary evaporator and then loaded into the Technicon sequential multi sample Analyzer for amino acid determination as described by Spackman et al., (1958).

Chemical composition and Nutrition value

The proximate composition of Talinum triangulare shoot meal  (TTSH) is shown in Table 1.

Procurement of experimental Birds and Brooding

A total of thirty (30) weaner New Zealand white rabbits were used for this study. The weaner rabbits were raised in experimental hutches with compounded weaner rabbit feed for one week to stabilize the rabbits before the feeding trials.  Out of thirty rabbits, twenty five were selected based on good health, apparent viability and good conformation assigned to five dietary treatments.

Formulation of the experimental diets

Five experimental diets were formulated containing 0%, 10%, 15 %, 20% and 25% TTSM representing treatments 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 respectively in which 0% TTSM was the control (Table 2). The feed was fortified with vitamin premix. The ingredients were thoroughly mixed to ensure homogeneity before grinding in a hammer mill. Experimental rabbits were randomly allocated to the five dietary groups containing 0%, 10%, 15 %, 20% and 25% TTSM for treatments 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 and were replicated thrice in a completely randomized design. Six weeks old weaner rabbits were reared on the experimental hutches. Each hutch was equipped with feeding troughs and drinkers.. Treatment diets and water were administered ad libitum. Routine management practices such as vaccination, drug administration and scrupulous cleanliness of the hutches and equipment were carefully applied.

Data collection

Initial weights were determined at the start of the experiment with the aid of salter weighing balance and thereafter at weekly intervals. The final weight was also taken by weighing the rabbits in each replicate on the last day of the experiment using the same weighing balance. The weight gains were calculated by subtracting the initial weight from the final weight. In addition, the feed intake was calculated by subtracting the feed remaining from the total feed supplied each day before serving fresh one. The feed conversion ratio was also calculated by dividing feed intake by weight gain. The feed cost was determined as the sum of the cost of all ingredients included in the diet.

Data analysis

All data generated were subjected to one way analysis of variance (Steel and Torrie, 1980), while significant differences in means were determined using Duncan’s Multiple Range Test (Gordon and Gordon, 2004).

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

There was significant interaction between dietary levels of water leaf shoot meal and wheat offal on daily feed intake, daily weight gain, feed cost per kilogram, initial and final live weights respectively. The parameter response of rabbits to dietary Talinum triangulare shoot meal depends on the presence of supplementary wheat offal. The energy content of the diets does not seem to be the factor that determine feed intake in this trial as shown in Table 3. Thus feed intake reduced with increase in the levels of Talinum triangulare shoot meal. Addition of 15.0% wheat offal and 10.0% water leaf shoot meal improve feed intake suggesting that energy was not the reason for the trend in feed intake observed. The reduced trend in feed intake observed is thought to be related to a combination of palatability and bulkiness of Talinum triangulare shoot meal, which affects gut-fill (Onakpa et al., 2011). The improvement in weight gain of the rabbit fed diets with supplement wheat offal relative to those without wheat offal could be attributed to the extra caloric effect accompanied with a reduced feed passage time in the gastro – intestinal tract (GIT). This would allow increased utilization of other constituents of the diets similar to that reported by (Ocheja et al.,2011).

Rabbits fed diets 20% Talinum triangulare shoot meal and 5% wheat offal had almost similar feed utilization with those fed diet T_3.   Rabbits on the supplemented diet consumed more feed relative to other rabbits in an attempt to satisfy their nutrient requirements.

The significantly (P<0.05) depressed weight gain and feed conversion ratio in rabbits fed 25% Talinum triangulare shoot meal in diet T₅ could therefore be attributed to the anti-nutritional effect of  tannins, oxalate, phytate and crude fiber in this diet (Orech et al.,2010).  Oxalate binds calcium to form calcium oxalate crystals. This prevents the absorption and utilization of calcium by the body thereby causing diseases such as ricket and osteomalacia (Berepubo, et al., 1995). The calcium crystals may also precipitate around renal tubules to cause renal stones while phytic acid combines with some essential elements such as iron, calcium, zinc and phosphrus to form insoluble salts called the phytates which are not absorbed by the body thus making the minerals unavailable (Bruinenberg et al., 2001). Tannins are water soluble phenolic compounds with a molecular weight greater than 500 and with the ability to precipitate proteins from aqueous solution. They also occur in all vascular plants. They combine with digestive enzymes thereby making them unavailable for digestion (Rosen.,2006).

Table 3 showed that final weight of the experimental birds varied significantly (p<0.05) between treatments. Birds on 0% TTSM were significantly (p<0.05) heavier than those on 10% and 15%, which were also significantly heavier than birds on 20% and 25% TTSM. Daily weight gain followed the same trend. However feed conversion ratio for rabbits on the control diet T₁ and T₂ were most efficient and were significantly (p<0.05) different from T₃, T₄ and T₅. Initial weights of the birds were similar (p>0.05) between treatments. Though TTSM is highly nutritious, the high levels of phytates (Bruinenberg et al.2001) caused the reduction in weight gain as higher levels of Wheat offals were included in the diets.

The observation that increasing levels of TTSM made birds consume more feed is explained by their quest to eat enough to meet their body nutritional requirement (Mbaegbu, 2012).  The fact that TTSM replacing wheat offal diets in this study were cheaper than the control T₁ indicates that TTSM replacing wheat offal reduces the cost of production.

The liver weight increased with 20% (T₄) inclusion levels of TTSM for wheat offal in the diets. Akande et al. (2010) reported that increasing the levels of TTSM at 20% improved liver and kidney weights in New Zealand rabbits. The significantly (P<0.05) larger weights of the heart of rabbits on diets T₂, T₃, T₄ and T₅ are in agreement with Amaefula et al. (2004).

Proximate compositions of Talinum triangulare were carried out in both dry and wet samples. Its softening principle was equally investigated in the wet sample. Carotenoids, protein, carbohydrates, steroids, crude fibre and among others were revealed to be present in T. Triangulare .This shows high level of its possible dietary value (Carabano et al., 2008). Generally the dry sample showed higher level of these nutrients than the wet sample except for protein and carbohydrates. The reason may be that the nutrients are not volatile compounds and hence have high dried weight. These results are in line with the findings of (Deblas and Mateos, 2010). He further showed that the vegetable is good for the management of cardiovascular diseases and oxidative stress, since carotenoids are biologic antioxidants.

CONCLUSION

Results obtained from the experiment showed that the best result in final weight was obtained for rabbits fed 0% TTSM followed by  10% TTSM while the poorest result was obtained for rabbits fed 25% TTSM. It was observed that rabbits could tolerate TTSM up to 20% in their diet without negatively affecting weight gain, carcass characteristics, feed conversion ratio and feed cost per kg gain. Higher inclusion levels of TTSM beyond 20% resulted in a decline in performance with regard to carcass and organ weights. The decline in performance with increasing levels of TTSM was attributed to the indigestible fibre content of the TTSM compared to         wheat offal. The treatment that gave the poorest result in the experiment (25% TTSM) has no wheat offal. Results obtained showed that all treatments supplemented with wheat offal gave a better result in performance, carcass and organ weight evaluations compared to the control (0.00% TTSM). Rabbits fed diets supplemented with 15% wheat offal gave a better the result while performance declined with increasing levels of TTSM supplementation .The decline in performance with increasing levels of TTSM was attributed to the rapid impact of the supplemented TTSM on caecal fermentation which resulted in higher digestive activities that was not beneficial to the rabbits. It was therefore concluded that rabbits can tolerate up to 20% inclusion level of TTSM in their diet without negative effects on performance. This inclusion level could be increased to 20% if wheat offal is supplemented at 5% thus, improving performance in productive parameters and evaluation of carcass and organ weight characteristics.

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Cite this Article: Ahaotu EO and Mbaegbu I (2017). Effects of Water Leaf (Talinum triangulare) Shoot Meal on the Performance of Weaner New Zealand White Rabbits. Greener Journal of Animal Breeding and Genetics, 3(3): 018-024, http://doi.org/10.15580/GJABG.2017.3.071217084