NUTRITIONAL EVALUATION OF PROCESSED AFZELIA AFRICANA SEED MEAL ON GROWTH PERFORMANCE AND NUTRIENT DIGESTIBILITY OF RABBITS

Abstract

The study was carried out to evaluate the potentials of Afzelia africana seed (AAS) on growth performance and nutrient digestibility of rabbits. AAS were collected in New Bussa. The seeds were washed and air-dried before processing. They were divided into three portions. One portion was ground raw and two portions were separately toasted at a temperature of 400C for 30 minutes. The toasted seeds were milled for inclusion in the diets. One of the toasted portions was toasted for the second time after milling at 400C for 30 minutes. Four experimental diets were formulated. Diet 1 contained 0 % AASM while diets 2, 3 and 4 contained raw, toasted and re-toasted AASM at 20 % levels of inclusion. Twenty-four crossbred rabbits with initial weight of 650 g were used. The animals were divided into four treatments of six rabbits per treatment. Each treatment had triplicates of two animals housed in wire/wooden hutches. They were allocated to the four dietary treatments in a completely randomized design for twelve weeks feeding trial. Feed intake and weight gains were determined. At the end of the feeding trial, digestibility trial was conducted. Final weight, total weight gain, mean weight gain, total feed intake and feed conversion ratio were significantly (P<0.05) different between the treatments. Although animals on diet 1 showed superior weight gain, those on diet 4 performed better than animals on diets 2 and 3. It is thus concluded that re-toasted AASM can be used in the diet of rabbits.