Effect of Supplementing Tigernut (Cyperus Esculenta Var Sativus) Meal on Proximate, Performance and Nutrient Digestibility of Female Weaner Rabbits.
Okiyi, P.C; Chukwu, B.C. and Adagbo, A.P.
ABSTRACT
This experiment was conducted to find the effect of feeding varying levels of tiger nut meal on weaner performance and nutrient digestibility of female rabbits at graded levels of inclusion (0% =T1, 10%=T2, 20%=T3 and 30%=T4). Four (4) treatment diets were formulated to contain tigernut inclusion levels of 0% (control), 10%, 20% and 30%. Twenty-four (24) clinically healthy female weaner rabbits were used in the experiment to evaluate the effect of feeding varying levels of tigernut meal diet. They were randomly divided into 4 groups of 6 animals per treatment with 2 animals per replicate given 3 replicate per treatment, in a Completely Randomized Design (CRD). Water and feed were given ad libitum. The experiment lasted for 120 days. Simple descriptive statistics and analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used to analyze the data while the New Duncan’s Multiple Range Test was employed to compare treatment means. The dry matter (DM) and crude protein (CP) digestibility values were affected (P˂0.05) by dietary treatments. The final body weight and average daily weight gain did not differ (P˃0.05) between dietary T1 (0%) and T2, while they differed significantly (P˂0.05) between dietary T3 and T4 respectively, but average daily weight gain highest in T4 (9.61g). The result showed that the values of rabbits fed 0% (77.21%) and that of 10% (72.15%) diet were same statistically. They also indicated that rabbits fed 10% diet had no problem in digesting the dry matter in the diets contrary to those fed 30% diets. It therefore showed that rabbits fed 10% tigernut meal had better and superior dry matter digestibility than treatments 3 and 4. Crude protein digestibility showed no significant difference (P˃0.05) between rabbits fed 0% and 10% tigernut meal diets but differed significantly (P˂0.05) from rabbits fed 20%(52) and 30% (51.06) diets which were statistically similar (P˃0.05). In this study it was observed that rabbits fed tigernut meal were able to digest crude protein at a decreasing rate as the level of inclusion increased. The reason for the poor digestibility at 30% maybe attributed to higher concentrations of tannins, phytate, etc. These observations agreed with the findings of Sathe and Salunke, (1981). Ether extract digestibility was highest in rabbits under treatment 1 (63.45%) followed by T2 (61.31%), T3 (53.35%) and T4 (48.35%) respectively. Nitrogen free extract digestibility had significant difference (P˂0.05) between treatments 3 and 4, but had higher non-significant difference between treatments 1 and 2. Crude fibre digestibility was significantly different among the treatments. The values were 53.25, 55.45, 61.18 and 62.33% for T1, T2, T3 and T4 respectively. The difference in digestibility between rabbits on T1 and T2 was not significant (P˃0.05) but they differed significantly (P˂0.05) from rabbits on T3 and T4 which were statistically similar (P˂0.05). The observed trend in nutrient digestibility was that the digestibility of DM, CP, EE and NFE declined as the level of tigernut meal increased in the diet. However, CF digestibility increased as the level of tigernut meal in the diet increased. This may be due to the fact that tigernut meal contains about 12.4% CF (Ladeji et al., 2003).