The effect of partial replacement of soybean meal with Gliricidia Leaf Meal on the performance and organ weights of weaner rabbits in the tropics

In an experiment to determine the effect of feeding graded levels of Gliricidia sepium Leaf Meal (GLM) on the performance and organ weights of rabbits, 25 weaner rabbits, 5-6 weeks old, were randomly allotted to 5 dietary treatments containing 0% (control), 5, 10, 15 and 20% GLM with 5 rabbits per treatment in a completely randomised design. Each rabbit constituted a replicate. The rabbits were housed individually in wire hutches in a spacious house and were given weighed quantities of feed daily and unlimited access to clean drinking water for eight weeks. The inclusion of GLM in the diets of the rabbits had no significant effect oil body weight gain, feed intake nor Oil feed conversion ratio of the rabbits. However, significant reductions were observed in cost of feed kg(-1) and in cost of producing a kg of meat as the level of GLM in the diets was increased. Heart and lung weights were unaffected by dietary treatments while kidney and liver weights were significantly higher in the 15 and 20% GLM groups than in the control 0, 5 and 10% GLM groups. It was concluded that although incorporation of GLM even up to 20% level ill the diets of weaner rabbits does not significantly reduce tissue synthesis in the rabbits, however, there is significant reduction in the cost of feeding weaner rabbits in the tropics. This probably increases detoxification activities in the liver and kidneys of rabbits when used at levels beyond 10%.