An eighty-four (84) day feeding trial was conducted to evaluate the effect of feeding rice milling by-products (rice offal, rice bran and rice grain rejects) on growth performance and production economics of crossbred (New Zealand white X Chinchilla) weaner rabbits with mean live weight of 347g. The rabbits were randomly allotted, 5 each, to five experimental diets, with each animal serving as a replicate. The diets were designated D1, D2, D3, D4 and D5. Diet D1 contained no rice milling by-products and served as the control, D2 contained 20% rice offal, D3 20% rice bran, D4 20% rice grain rejects and D5 10% rice bran + 10% grain rejects. Feed and water were provided ad-libitum. Daily feed intake, daily weight gain and feed conversion ratio (67.94-79.42g, 13.50-15.97g, and 4.71-5.67 respectively) were not affected (p>0.05) by inclusion of rice milling by-products in the diets. Apparent nutrient digestibility indices, except for Nitrogen Free Extract (NFE), were also not influenced (p>0.05) by treatments. NFE digestibility was depressed by the feeding of rice offal (p<0.05). Feed cost per kg of weight gain was highest for the rabbit fed the control diet (₦587/kg) and lowest (p<0.05) for those on diet containing rice bran (₦436/kg). Gross margin between total production cost and revenue was highest for rabbits fed a combination of rice bran and rice grain rejects(₦701.18/rabbit), and lowest (₦561.62/rabbit) for the diet that contained no rice milling by-products. It was, therefore, concluded that the use of these rice milling by-products can be recommended for meat rabbit production. However, further studies should be carried out to elaborate the chemical properties and feed potential of this class of feed ingredients. Key words: Feed intake, weight gain, Feed conversion ratio, Nutrients digestibility, Rice milling by-products
In an effort to gain a better understanding into the role played by food animals in the epidemiology of gastrointestinal parasites, we assessed the prevalence of gastrointestinal parasites in different breeds of rams brought into Abeokuta during a festive season by microscopic examination of faecal samples. A total of 206 rams of different breeds were randomly sampled. The faecal samples collected were subjected to simple floatation and sedimentation tests. McMaster egg counting technique was used to estimate the faecal oocyst load in positive samples. Overall prevalence of gastrointestinal parasites was 51.46%. There was significant (p < 0.05) difference between the prevalence of Eimeria spp (37.38%)and helminth eggs (13.59%).Among the 29 samples that tested positive for helminth eggs, 6 (20.7%), 19 (65.5%) and 4 (13.8%) were cestode, nematode and trematode eggs, respectively. The genera of nematodes eggs identified include Strongyloides spp, Haemonchus spp, Mashallagia spp, Bunostomum spp, Ascaris spp, Dictyocaulus spp, Gongylonema spp and Ostergia spp; trematodes were Fasciola spp and Dicrocoelium spp while cestodes were Moniezia spp and Avitellinaspp. The only protozoan parasite identified was Eimeria spp. This study has clearly shown that rams brought to Abeokuta during festive seasons carry different gastrointestinal parasites of which Eimeria spp had the largest share. Parasites of zoonotic importance (Fasciola and Moniezia) were also detected. Therefore, there is need for regular screening of animals being introduced from one state to the other and also from neighbouring countries for effective monitoring and control of parasitic diseases in domestic animals and human population.Keywords: GIT parasite, ram, helminth, protozoan.
