EVALUATION OF USING MORINGA OLEIFERA LEAVES MEAL ON PHYSIOLOGICAL RESPONSE, HORMONAL CHANGES AND VARIANCE IN REPRODUCTIVE ACTIVITY OUTCOMES ON FEMALE RABBITS

: This is an evaluation study for the effect of Moringa oleifera leaf meal (MOLM) on reproductive hormones, hematological and biochemical parameters, and reproductive performance in female rabbits. A total of 40 New Zealand White (NZW) rabbits does 6-month of age, with an average body weight (2500±100 g), were randomly divided into four equal treatment groups. 1 st group (control) was fed a basal diet. The 2 nd , 3 rd and 4 th treatments were fed on basal diet supplemented with 2.5, 5 and 7.5% of MOLM, respectively. Diets were provided to does throughout the experiment. Blood samples were collected at the end of the experimental period at 9 months of age from the marginal ear vein from each female rabbit for biochemical, hematological analysis and hormonal assay using standard procedures. In addition, conception rate (CR), litter weight (LW), litter size (LS), gestation length (GL) and milk yield (MY) were determined. Results showed that, using moringa in the diets of female rabbits caused significant improvement in their reproductive performance parameters and achieved the highest rates in CR, LS, LW and MY compared with control group. In addition to higher rate of reproductive hormones such as FSH, LH, estrogen and progesterone and a decrease in LDL-cholesterol and total cholesterol in rabbits fed on moringa compared to control. It was also noted that there was an increase in the levels of serum total protein and HDL-cholesterol in the same groups compared with control group. Whereas plasma ALT and AST decreased with all treatments of MOLM and this indicated that moringa has a role to improve liver health. It was also noted that there were significant differences between all treatments with regard to hemoglobin (Hb), white blood cell (WBC) and lymphocytes. In conclusion, supplementing rabbit diets with 2.5, 5 or 7.5% of MOLM showed positive effects on hematological and biochemical blood parameters, physiological response, hormonal changes and reproductive activity of female rabbits, and it could be used as a sexual promoter for female rabbits.