Effect of bee pollen on growth performance, carcass traits, blood parameters, and the levels of metabolic hormones in Ne
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Effect of bee pollen on growth performance, carcass traits, blood parameters, and the levels of metabolic hormones in New Zealand White and Rex rabbits Tamer M. Abdel-Hamid 1 & Mahmoud S. El-Tarabany 1 Received: 9 January 2019 / Accepted: 29 May 2019 # Springer Nature B.V. 2019
Abstract The aim was to evaluate the effect of bee pollen (BP) on performance, blood parameters, and metabolic hormones in New Zealand White (NZW) and Rex (RX) rabbits. A total of 60 six-week-old rabbits were allotted into a completely randomized design in a 2 × 3 factorial arrangement (two breeds and three levels of BP: 0, 250, and 350 mg/kg body weight). The effects of breed × BP supplementation level were non-significant for all growth performance and carcass traits, as well as the concentrations of metabolic hormones in the plasma. Meanwhile, some blood parameters (hemoglobin, packed cell volume, alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, and urea) were significantly affected (P < 0.05). Regardless of the effect of breed, the supplementation of BP at a dose of 350 mg/kg BW increased the final body weight (P = 0.008), average daily gain (P < 0.001), and net profits (P = 0.006). However, the rabbits treated with BP at a dose of 250 mg/kg BW showed lower average daily feed intake (− 14.45 g/d; P = 0.049) and feed to gain ratio (− 0.48; P = 0.039). In both rabbit breeds, BP at a dose of 350 mg/kg increased the concentrations of insulin-like growth factor-1 (302.62 ng/ml, P < 0.001), insulin (16.63 ng/ml, P = 0.050), and triiodothyronine (158.50 ng/dl, P < 0.001) in plasma compared with other groups. It may be concluded that intake of BP supplementation can improve the feed to gain ratios, blood indices, and metabolic hormones in different rabbit breeds. However, the appropriate dosage and the route of supplementation of BP in broiler rabbits need further research. Keywords Rabbit . Bee pollen . Blood parameters . Growth performance . Insulin . Carcass
Introduction Rabbits are characterized by their ability to grow and reproduce naturally even if they are fed on a diet containing a low percentage or no grain at all compared with pigs and poultry. Additionally, rabbits can convert the grass into meat more efficiently than the cattle and sheep, which is five times as much as the cattle (McNitt et al. 2013). Recent research findings (Crane 1990; Abreu 1992; Quian Wei et al. 2008; Xu et al. 2009) envisage that a large number of beneficial elements are present in bee pollen (BP) such as proteins, essential
* Mahmoud S. El-Tarabany [email protected]; [email protected] 1
Animal Wealth Development Department, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Zagazig University, El-Zeraa str. 114, Zagazig, Sharkia 44511, Egypt
amino acids, polyunsaturated fatty acids especially linolenic and linoleic acids, minerals, vitamins, flavonoids, and phytosterols. The phenolic compounds in BP showed great variability, as well as the potent antioxidant ability (Broadhurst 1999; Leja et al. 2007; Šarić et al. 2009). In this c
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