Effects of Raffinose on Growth Performance,Slaughtering Performance,Intestinal Morphology,Serum Biochemical and Immune Indexes of Meat Rabbits
This experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of different supplemental levels of raffinose in the diet on the growth performance,slaughtering performance,intestinal morphology,serum biochemical and immune indexes of meat rabbits.One hundred and twenty 35 days-old commercial Ira rabbits with an aver-age body weight of(1.03±0.05)kg were randomly divided into 4 groups of 30 rabbits(half male and half fe-male),and each rabbit served as a replicate.The rabbits in the control group were fed a basal diet,and the others in the experimental groups were fed basal diets supplemented with 0.05%,0.10%and 0.20%raffinose,respectively.The pre-feeding period was 5 days and the trial period was 42 days.The results showed as fol-lows:1)compared with the control group,the supplementation of 0.05% raffinose in the diet significantly in-creased the final body weight,and the average daily feed intake and average daily gain during the later period(22 to 42 d)and the whole period(1 to 42 d)of trial(P<0.05).2)The half carcass weight and all carcass weight of rabbits in the 0.05% raffinose group were significantly increased compared with the control group(P<0.05).3)The villus height to villus crypt ratio of duodenum,jejunum and ileum of rabbits in the 0.05%raffinose group was significantly increased compared with the control group(P<0.05).4)Compared with the control group,diet supplemented with 0.05% or 0.10% raffinose significantly increased the contents of immu-noglobulin A and immunoglobulin M in serum of rabbits(P<0.05).In summary,the supplementation of 0.05% raffinose in the diet can improve the intestinal development and serum immune indexes,and then in-crease the growth performance and slaughtering performance of meat rabbits.[Chinese Journal of Animal Nu-trition,2024,36(1):507-513]