Interaction of supplementary L-carnitine and dietary energy levels on feed utilization and blood constituents in New Zealand White rabbits reared under summer conditions

In the summer season, the harmful effects of high ambient temperatures on rabbit productivity have attained global interest. Therefore, the use of new nutritional strategies to improve heat tolerance in rabbits has become highly needed. In the current experiment, the effect of the addition of L-carn...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Tropical animal health and production 2021-06, Vol.53 (2), p.279, Article 279
Main Authors: Ayyat, Mohamed S., Abd El-Latif, Khaled M., Helal, Amera A., Al-Sagheer, Adham A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Ambient temperature
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Blood
Body weight
Carnitine
Conversion ratio
Diet
Dietary supplements
Energy levels
Erythrocytes
Feed conversion
Heart rate
Heat stress
Heat tolerance
Hemoglobin
Indicators
Leukocytes
Life Sciences
Physical growth
Physiology
Rabbits
Regular Articles
Summer
Veterinary Medicine/Veterinary Science
Zoology
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:In the summer season, the harmful effects of high ambient temperatures on rabbit productivity have attained global interest. Therefore, the use of new nutritional strategies to improve heat tolerance in rabbits has become highly needed. In the current experiment, the effect of the addition of L-carnitine (LC) to normal (NE) or high-energy (HE) diets of growing rabbits reared under summer conditions on their productive performance, physiological indicators, and carcass characteristics was assessed. For this purpose, a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement of treatments was used with two dietary levels of energy of 10.00 and 11.22 MJ kg −1 diet of NE and HE, respectively, which was fortified with 0 or 50 mg of LC kg −1 of diet (LC0 and LC50, respectively). The feeding trial was conducted using 80 male rabbits (initial body weight, 630.7 ± 1.3 g; 35-day-old), and it lasted for 56 days. Throughout the experiment, the average temperature humidity index was 35.49 reflecting very severe heat stress conditions. Rectal temperature, heart rate, and respiration rate decreased significantly in rabbits fed NE+LC50, HE+LC0, and HE+LC50 diets compared with those fed NE diets without supplementation. Simultaneously, growth indices and feed conversion ratio were enhanced significantly. Rabbits fed NE+LC50, HE+LC0, and HE+LC50 diets showed significantly higher blood hemoglobin, white blood cell counts, total protein, glucose, and red blood cell counts, compared with those fed a NE+LC0 diet. Rabbits fed NE+LC50 and HE+LC50 showed higher economic efficiency. In conclusion, growing rabbits reared under summer conditions responded positively to LC supplementation and HE diets, in terms of the highest growth performance, feed conversion, and physiological and biochemical indicators, making them potentially safe to use.
ISSN:0049-4747
1573-7438
DOI:10.1007/s11250-021-02723-1