Volume 175, May 2015, Pages 83–89
Oregano, rosemary and vitamin E dietary supplementation in growing rabbits: Effect on growth performance, carcass traits, bone development and meat chemical composition
Highlights
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- We studied the effect of natural additives supplementation on rabbit.
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- Rabbits of O and OR groups showed the highest final live weight and carcass weight.
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- All treatments improved the oxidative stability of meat compared to the control group.
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- Treatments O and E were the most effective in delaying the lipid oxidation of meat.
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- Natural antioxidants had a positive effect on productive performance and meat quality.
Abstract
The
study aimed to evaluate the effect of dietary supplementation with
different natural additives (aqueous extracts) on the performance of
growing rabbits, the nutritional composition and oxidative stability of
their meat and on their hind leg bone traits. For this experiment, 200
New Zealand White rabbits weaned at 30 days of age were randomly
allocated into five dietary groups (n=40 rabbits/group) until
80 days of age, when they were sacrificed. Dietary groups were: S
(standard diet with no supplementation), E (standard diet+150 ppm
vitamin E positive control), O (standard diet+0.2% oregano, Origanum vulgare, aqueous extract), R (standard diet+0.2% rosemary, Rosmarinus officinalis,
aqueous extract) and OR (standard diet+0.1% oregano extract+0.1%
rosemary extract). An additional 50 ppm vitamin E was added to each
diet. Rabbits in the O and OR groups showed the highest final live
weight and carcass weight (P<0.001). Oregano supplemented animals also had the best feed conversion ratio. Longissimus dorsi (LD) meat of E and R rabbits had higher protein content compared to O and OR (P<0.001) which had a higher moisture content than E rabbits (P<0.005).
All dietary treatments improved the oxidative stability of the LD meat
compared to the S group. Treatments O and E were the most effective in
delaying the lipid oxidation of LD meat, followed by the OR and R diets (P<0.005).
No significant differences among groups in composition of the hind leg
meat (HL) were observed. The O rabbits had a higher bone weight (P<0.05) than E animals and this difference was mainly ascribable to femur weight (P<0.01).
In conclusion, the study showed that supplementation with 0.2% oregano
can have a positive effect on productive performance and meat quality of
rabbits.
Keywords
- Rabbit;
- Meat quality;
- Vitamin E;
- Oregano;
- Rosemary
Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
