تأثير إضافة مستويات مختلفة من مسحوق أوراق الزعتر إلى العليقة على الأداء الإنتاجي والصفات الكيموحيوية وحالة مضادات الأكسدة لذكور الأرانب النامية

Abstract

This study was conducted to investigate the effect of adding different levels of thyme leaf powder to the diet on the productive performance, some biochemical characteristics and antioxidant status of growing male rabbits. 48 male New Zealand growing rabbits were used at 4 weeks of age, with an average weight of 680 ± 5.6 g. These male rabbits were randomly distributed to four treatments (12 rabbits/treatment) with 4 treatment replications. The experiment lasted for 8 weeks and the study groups were classified as follows: the first treatment (T1), the comparison treatment was fed a basic diet, while the second, third and fourth treatment groups (T2, T3, T4) were fed the main diet, plus 0.5, 1.0, and 1.5% of thyme leaves powder, respectively. The results indicated a significant improvement (P≥0.05) in the rate of overall weight gain, feeding conversion efficiency and a decrease in feeding consumed for all treatments of additives to thyme leaf powder. The results also showed that the addition of thyme powder led to a significant decrease (P≥0.05) in the proportion of cholesterol, triglycerides, glucose and AST, ALT enzyme levels in rabbit blood serum compared with the control group. The results showed that the addition of thyme leaf powder significantly improved (P≥0.05) the antioxidant status in the blood serum of rabbits, which was represented by an increase in the level of glutathione GSH and a decrease in the level of malondialdehyde MDA compared with the control group. Hence, it is concluded that feeding the growing male rabbits on thyme leaf powder at the level of 0.5, 1.0, and 1.5% can lead to a significant improvement in the production performance and some biochemical characteristics of most of the studied traits, as well as the antioxidant status. Therefore, the thyme powder can be used as one of the important food additives in the diets of the growing male rabbits.