Abstract 561

Omole,-TA; Onwudike,-OC

Dep. Animal Science, Univ. Ife, Ile-Ife, Nigeria.

Tropical-Animal-Production. 1983, 8: 1, 27-32; 9 ref.

In 2 trials, rabbits were fed on cassava peel meal without or with palm oil. Without palm oil there was a significant reduction in the rate of gain of rabbits when cassava peel exceeded 30% of diet. With palm oil supplements the drops in rate of gain and feed efficiency with increasing levels of cassava peel were less than with the unsupplemented diets. Without palm oil, feed intake dropped significantly with more than 40% of cassava peel; with the supplemented diets, feed intake was not significantly affected even with up to 50% of cassava peel. With palm oil supplements, serum thiocyanate remained about the same for rabbits given none to 50% of cassava peel, while there was a significant increase in urine thiocyanate. With the unsupplemented diet the reverse was the case. Since urine is a pathway of excretion, it would appear that palm oil supplements allowed a higher rate of removal of cyanide from the body than when no palm oil was given.