THE EFFECT OF DIFFERENT FIBRE AND STARCH DIETARY LEVELS ON HAEMATOLOGY OF POST-WEANING RABBITS

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of different fibre and starch dietary levels on the blood parameters of post-weaning rabbits. A control group was fed a post-weaning, growing rabbit diet containing 138 g/kg dry matter (DM) crude fibre and 168 g/kg DM starch. Three rabbit groups were fed diets with 147, 156, or 164 g/kg of DM crude fibre, and three groups were fed diets having 190, 223, or 247 g/kg DM starch. The experiment started with six week-old rabbits and lasted 28 days. Blood glucose levels were, on average, 7% lower in the groups fed fibre-enriched diets (P = 0.048) and 10% higher in the rabbit groups fed starch-enriched diets than in the control. The higher the dietary level for fibre and starch diets, the greater the deviation from normal in glucose levels. Total protein levels were not significantly modified, excepting a 13% increase in the globulin fraction of fibre and starch-diet fed groups and a subsequent decrease (8.3% and, respectively 13.8%) in the albumin/globulin ratio, but no differences according to the level of fibre or starch. Compared to the control, blood urea was 17% lower and 10% higher in rabbits fed the high crude fibre high starch diets respectively. Alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, and alkaline phosphatase showed relatively steady activity regardless of diet. The fibre diet levels were positively correlated with protein (r = 0.87) and HDL cholesterol (r = 0.78), but negatively correlated with glucose (r = -0.72), urea (r = -0.91) and triglycerides (r = -0.78). Contrastingly, dietary starch levels correlated positively with triglycerides (r = 0.92) and LDL cholesterol (r = 0.86). A negligible relationship was found between cholesterol and fibre (r = 0.15) or starch (r = 0.01) enriched diets.