The effect of using two different concentration of ground olive leaves on production traits of male rabbits

الملخص EN

The present work was designed to demonstrate the effect of two different concentration of Olive leaves ( 5% and 10%) in diet on production traits in male rabbits .Twenty one male rabbits with body weight average 1.1 – 1.3 kg and 4-5 months age were bought from Local Markets, and they were divided randomly into three equal groups with equal weight , put in metal cages were fed on concentrate pellets diet with green roughage ,The male rabbits were divided to three equal groups and by 7 animals / group with equal weights .The 1st group (T1) (control group)was offered drinking water and fed concentrate pellets without ground olive leaves , the 2nd one (T2) (5% olive leaves)offered drinking water and fed concentrate pellets with 5% ground olive leaves /diet , while the 3rd one (T3) (10% olive leaves)offered drinking water and fed concentrate pellets with 10 % ground olive leaves /diet and the nutrition were continue for 8 weeks .

Animals were weight every week to see weekly weight gain and measured of some production traits such as total weight gain, feed consumption rate and the coefficient of food conversion,slaughtered all animals of groups to study some carcass characteristics which include, hot and cold carcass weight, and percentage of edible and non-edible and external parts and dressing and different carcass cuts.

The results showed significant decrease (P<0.05)for the final weight , Body weight gain , relative growth rate , feed intake and coefficient of feed conversion in T2 , T3 in compare with T1 control group .While the observed significant (P<0.05) decrease in carcass weight, dressing out percentage , percentage of fat around viscera and percentage of fat on shoulder in T2 ,T3 group in compare with T1 and significant raising in carcass cuts (shoulder , Cotton) in T2,T3 in compare with T1.Notied that there was arithmetic difference in all groups in (Cold carcass weight , Internal edible visceral and Internal non – edible visceral and External visceral percentage and carcass cuts such as ribs and chest).the results conclude that the addition of olive leaf by 5% or 10% in the diets of rabbits may have contributed to the improvement of carcass quality and reduce the level of fat on the viscera or shoulders in the carcasses and reduce feed costs where possible bringing it about place of alfa alfa economic as interest and we recommend using the highest levels may be 15% or 20% of olive leaves in rabbits diets due to the economic feasibility and lack of toxicity.