INFLUENCE OF USING OLIVE CAKE MEAL WITH OR WITHOUT SODIUM BICARBONATE ON PRODUCTIVE PERFORMANCE OF GROWING NEW ZEALAND WHITE RABBITS

The present experiment was carried out to investigate the possibility of incorporating 10 and 20 % of olive cake meal (OCM) with or without 0.25% and 0.50% sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3) in the rabbit diets and their effects on growth performance, carcass traits, blood constituents, nutrient utilization and economical efficiency of growing rabbits. A total of 105 unsexed, New Zealand White (NZW) weaned rabbits of 4 weeks of age were randomly assigned to 7 equal experimental groups (15 rabbits each). Rabbits were housed individually in wire mesh cages. The first treatment served as control without additives. The 2, 3, and 4 treatments contained 10 % OCM supplemented with zero, 0.25 and 0.50 % NaHCO3, respectively. The 5 , 6th and 7 treatments contained 20 % OCM supplemented with zero, 0.25 and 0.50 % NaHCO3, respectively. Results revealed that rabbits fed diet supplemented with 10 % OCM with 0.25 NaHCO3 recorded the highest value of final body weight, total gain, daily weight gain and performance index (%). In addition, diets with 10 and 20% OCM with 0.25 or 0.50 NaHCO3 numerically increased digestibility coefficient of CP and significantly increased (P≤0.01) digestibility coefficient of CF as compared with other groups. Whereas, 20% OCM without NaHCO3 attained the worst nutrient digestibility for all parameters studied. Also, rabbits fed 10 % OCM with or without NaHCO3 were more efficient in feeding utilization than the others. Furthermore, Rabbits fed 10 % OCM plus 0.25 or 0.50% NaHCO3 diets had the highest significance (P≤0.01) in carcass % compared with others. Rabbits fed diet supplemented with 10% OCM without NaHCO3 had the lowest values of all traits. Furthermore, the differences for serum cholesterol, triglycerides and albumin concentrations were highly significant (P≤0.01) whereas, the differences were significant (P≤0.05) for ALT, and non significant for total lipids, total protein, globulin, A/G and AST. Data on serum cholesterol concentrations were greater in for the groups that were fed 10 or 20 % OCM without NaHCO3 (P≤0.01) compared with others. There were an improvement in economical efficiency (EEf) and relative economical efficiency (REEf) for rabbits fed diets 10% OCM, without or with NaHCO3, as compared with other groups. In conclusion, results of this study indicated that inclusion of olive cake meal (OCM) in growing rabbit's diet at a level 10% with or without sodium bicarbonate may be useful and have significant impact on growth performance, carcass characteristics, blood components and economical efficiency.