Assessment of the benefits of using Azolla mexicana as fodder in rabbits

Abstract

Rapidly growing human populations and the increased need for high nutritive value meat in terms of low fat, high protein and low sodium content are the driving reasons for increases in rabbit meat production. However, dietary protein alternative to sustain rabbit meat production are needed without competing with strategic crops. Therefore, the current study was conducted to investigate the effect of Azolla leaf meal (ALM) as a dietary protein source on growth performance and weight gain. For this purpose, eight local Dutch rabbits were blocked for initial body weight and randomly allotted into four dietary treatments with two replicates per treatment (n = 2) as follows: Group one was fed on 0% Azolla, group two 5% Azolla, group three 10% Azolla and group four 20% Azolla. The rabbits were raised individually and the experiment period was 42 days. At the end of every week, the rabbits were weighed for body weight gain and growth performance was observed in each group. The average for each group was calculated. Body weight gain varied among the groups for different weeks. However, 10% Azolla seemed to show better weight gain and higher dosage seemed to affect the growth performance negatively. The statistical analysis of data showed that there was a significant difference between the rabbits fed on different treatments. In addition, Azolla contains various essential amino acids, linoleic acid, vitamin A, folic acid, vitamin E, copper, zinc, iron and selenium which have effect on or more indices of immunity. Therefore, the prolonged use of Azolla improves the meat quality, weight gain and growth performance of rabbits due to the various nutrients it contains.