Abstract

The effect of dietary supplementation garlic oil on performance and blood parameters of New Zealand White rabbits has been studied. The garlic oil was added at graded levels of 0.0, 0.25, 0.5 and 0.75 g/kg for T1 (control), T2, T3 and T4, respectively. A total of thirty six male rabbits, 7 weeks of age and with an initial weigh of 950 g were used. There were four treatments, each with three replicates (n = 3) in randomly divided design. The parameters investigated were growth performance, carcass yield, glucose, plasma lipids profile, immunoglobulin’s G (IgG, IgA and IgM), antioxidant status and testosterone hormone. The results showed that feeding diet supplemented with garlic oil had insignificant effect on body weight, body weight gain, feed intake, feed conversion ratio, triglycerides, cholesterol, LDL and HDL. Rabbits fed the 0.5 g/kg garlic oil diet had significantly increased IgG level, hence improved immune responses and Testosterone hormone of rabbits. The colony forming units of coliform bacteria showed a significantly lower number compared with control. The present results indicate that supplemented of garlic oil at 0.5 g/kg of diet has a positive effect on HDL, immunoglobulin’s G, antioxidant status and testosterone hormone in addition to its antibacterial effect.

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