THE EFFECT OF CASTOR SEEDS PROCESSED BY SOAKING AND FERMENTATION ON THE PERFORMANCE, BIOCHEMICAL PROFILE AND HAEMATOLOGICAL PARAMETERS OF RABBITS

A feeding trial that lasted eight weeks was conducted to evaluate the nutritive value of castor seeds processed by soaking in water for 72hrs and fermentation on the performance of weaner rabbits. A total of 15 rabbits were used for the study, the rabbits were randomly allotted to three dietary treatments of five rabbits per treatment with three replicates in a complete randomized design. Diet 1 is the control formulated devoid of castor seeds while diets 2 and 3 have castor seeds processed by soaking and fermentation, respectively at 15% inclusion level. Rations formulated were isonitrogenous at 23% CP and the rabbits were caged individually where feed and water were provided ad libitum throughout the study period that lasted 56 days (8 wks).  At the end of the study, three rabbits from each treatment were slaughtered for carcass analysis after taken 5ml blood samples from their jugular vein. Feed intake, water consumption, weight gain and mortality were recorded. The result shows that the final weight, feed intake, weight gain, feed to gain ratio and feed cost/kg gain were significantly (P> 0.05) higher in rabbits fed fermented castor seeds compared to all other treatments. There were no significant differences in mortality rate across the treatments. Result of the biochemical profile shows that there are no significant differences in total protein, triglyceride and cholesterol across treatments. Result of haematological parameters show that platelet count was significantly (P 0.05) higher in the soaked group than fermented and control while eosinophils were significantly higher (P> 0.05) in the fermented seeds group compared to the others. There were no significant differences in the packed cell volume, white blood cell count, neutrophils, lymphocytes and monocytes across the treatments. Fermented castor seeds gave a better performance in the weaner rabbits, it also does not have any adverse effect on the health status of the rabbits.