ROASTED AFRICAN STAR APPLE (Chrysophyllum albidum) KERNEL MEAL IMPROVES GROWTH PERFORMANCE OF GROWING RABBITS

Abstract

Nutritionally, Chrysophyllum albidum seeds have been reported to contain high amount of energy. However, the presence of anti-nutritional substances such as phytate, oxalate, saponin, and tannin in the seeds hinder animals from benefitting from it nutritionally. A 12-week study was carried out to examine the effect of substituting dietary maize with roasted African star apple kernel meal (RASAKM) on growth performance and blood indices of growing rabbits. A total of forty eight weaner rabbits (mixed breed, average weight, 590 g) were randomly allocated to four experimental diets containing 0, 5, 10 and 15 % RASAKM as substitute for dietary maize in a Completely Randomized Design. Roasted ASAKM influenced (P< 0.05) weight gain, feed conversion ratio and carcass parameters measured. Rabbits fed 5 and 10 % RASAKM diets had similar (P>0.05) weight gain (17.47 g and 16.69 g) with those fed the control diet (18.62 g). Rabbits fed 5 and 10 % RASAKM diets produced higher (P< 0.05) carcass compared with those fed 15 % RASAKM. Haematological indices analysed were not influenced (P>0.05) by the dietary treatments except for white blood cell and monocytes. It was concluded that RASAKM could be used up to 10 % to replace dietary maize in the diet of growing rabbits without compromising performance and carcass quality. Key word