Abstract 100

Abdelhamid,AM

Animal and Poultry Production Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Mansoura University, Mansoura, Egypt.

Archives-ofAnimal-Nutrition. 1989, 39: 8/9, 729-739; 43 ref.

For 7 weeks, groups of 8 male and female adult Baladi rabbits, weighing about 1.14 kg, were freely given conventional dry diets (control) or 2% of wheat bran replaced with starch (1), tallow (2), cottonseed oil (3), or hydrogenated palm oil (4). Tallow increased feed intake, growth, weights of kidneys, lung and heart, and calcium concentration of the tibia and decreased total serum nitrogen and cholesterol, hepatic vitamin A and silica, phosphorus and magnesium in the tibia. Cottonseed oil decreased serum glucose, cholesterol, aspartate aminotransferase activity and specific gravity of the tibia; hepatic vitamin A increased (P < 0.01) compared with the other diets. Hydrogenated palm oil decreased hepatic DM, ash and vitamin A and increased fat content in the liver. Diets with starch increased haemoglobin and haematocrit, hepatic glucose, P and DM. DM and fat content of the femoral muscle and silica and P in the tibia were significantly increased compared with the other diets. Organ weights and liver fat and vitamin A decreased compared with controls.