Effects of Dietary Bioactive Lipid Compounds of <i>Acacia nilotica</i> Bark on Productive Performance, Antioxidant Status, and Antimicrobial Activities of Growing Rabbits under Hot Climatic Conditions
Ahmed A. A. Abdel-Wareth,
Hazem G. M. El-Sayed,
Hamdy A. Hassan,
Ghadir A. El-Chaghaby,
Abdel-Wahab A. Abdel-Warith,
Elsayed M. Younis,
Shimaa A. Amer,
Sayed Rashad,
Jayant Lohakare
Affiliations
Ahmed A. A. Abdel-Wareth
Department of Animal and Poultry Production, Faculty of Agriculture, South Valley University, Qena 83523, Egypt
Hazem G. M. El-Sayed
Regional Center for Food and Feed, Agricultural Research Center, Giza 12619, Egypt
Hamdy A. Hassan
Department of Animal and Poultry Production, Faculty of Agriculture, South Valley University, Qena 83523, Egypt
Ghadir A. El-Chaghaby
Regional Center for Food and Feed, Agricultural Research Center, Giza 12619, Egypt
Abdel-Wahab A. Abdel-Warith
Department of Zoology, College of Science, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2455, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia
Elsayed M. Younis
Department of Zoology, College of Science, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2455, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia
Shimaa A. Amer
Department of Nutrition and Clinical Nutrition, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Zagazig University, Zagazig 44511, Egypt
Sayed Rashad
Regional Center for Food and Feed, Agricultural Research Center, Giza 12619, Egypt
Jayant Lohakare
Poultry Center, Cooperative Agricultural Research Center, Prairie View A&M University, Prairie View, TX 77446, USA
This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of dietary Acacia nilotica bark bioactive lipid compounds (ANBBLCs) as novel feed additives on the growth performance, carcass criteria, antioxidants, and antimicrobial activities of growing male rabbits. A total of 100 California male weanling rabbits aged 35 days were divided into four nutritional treatments, each of which contained ANBBLCs at concentrations of 0 (control group), 50, 100, and 150 mg/kg diet (n = 25 per treatment, each replication consisting of one animal). The average body weight of the animals was 613 ± 14 g. The experiments lasted for 56 days. Dietary ANBBLC levels linearly improved (p p Lactobacillus increased and Staphylococcus decreased (p < 0.05) in comparison to the control group when ANBBLC levels were added to the diets of rabbits. Rabbit diets supplemented with ANBBLCs increased dressing percentages and decreased abdominal fat. This study shows that ANBBLCs can be used as a feed additive to enhance the growth performance, carcass criteria, antioxidant, and antibacterial properties of growing rabbits.
