Impact of Magnetically Treated Water on Growth Rate And Haematological Parameters of Dutch And Chinchilla Rabbits

Abstract

Rabbit is a source of protein and commercialization of rabbit production in Nigeria is essential to improve food security and meet the demand. Some rabbit farms have problems of poor growth rate, high mortality and high cost of animal feed causing high production cost. Magnetically treated water(MTW) could improve growth performance and boost immunity of animals for profitable rabbit farming. This study was conducted to assess the impact of MTW on growth rate and haematological parameters of rabbits. Twenty rabbits(10 Dutch, 10 Chinchilla species) 4 weeks old with average body-weight of 400g were kept in wooden pen-house(150×100×100cm), 5 rabbits/pen for 15 weeks. MTW was produced by passing water through pipe surrounded with 30 pieces of neodymium magnet(15,000 Gauss). Dutch and Chinchilla rabbits that were given MTW were denoted D₁ and C₁ while Dutch and Chinchilla rabbits that were given non-magnetically treated water (NMTW) were denoted D₂ and C₂. Each pen-house was provided with 1kg of same diet and 2litres of MTW or NMTW daily. Growth rate (body weight) was measured weekly; blood samples were collected and analyzedusing standard methods. Mean body weights of the rabbit at 15 weeks for D₁, C₁, D₂, C₂ were 1925.58, 1878.11, 1704.87 and 1592.51 g, respectively. Red blood cells (RBC) counts for D₁, C₁, D₂ and C₂ were 4.48×10¹²/L, 3.36×10¹²/L, 1.69×10¹²/L and 1.54×10¹²/L, respectively. White blood cells(WBC) were 5.6×10⁹/L, 5.1×10⁹/L, 4.4×10⁹/L and 2.9×10⁹/L. MTW increased the body weight by 12.9-17.93%, improved the immunity with higher RBC, WBC. MTW is recommended for rabbit production.