Growth and reproduction in male rabbits fed fresh ipil-ipil leaves
1981
Abilay, T.A. | Rabe, E.T. | Obsioma, A.R. (University of the Philippines at Los Banos, College, Laguna. Coll. of Agriculture)
Twenty sexually mature male rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) were distributed in a completely randomized design to determine the effect of ipil-ipil (Leucaena leucocephala (Lam) de Wit) on the growth and reproductive functions of mature male rabbits. The results showed that male rabbits fed high level (29, 43 and 57% DM) of ipil-ipil leaves had reduced (P.05) body weight gains, feed conversion efficiency, testicular measurements, hematocrit and hemoglobin values, lymphocyte counts and weights of spleen and testes; induced a significant decrease in the conception rates and litter size at birth in test-female rabbits; and elicited an increase (P.01) in the WBC counts and the number of breeding attempts as compared with the control. However, no significant effects were observed on the RBC, neutrophil and monocyte counts, and the hepatorenal and heart weights of rabbits in all dietary treatments. On the other hand, feeding rabbits 14% DM ipil-ipil leaves had no deleterious effects on growth and reproduction based on the aforementioned parameters
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