African Journal of Livestock Extension: Vol. 11, Jan, 2013
GROWTH PERFORMANCE AND ORGAN CHARACTERISTICS OF RATS FED GMELINA (Gmelina arborea) FRUIT PULP 1
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* Julius N. Ingweye and Bassey I. Okon Neglected & Underutilized Species Research Group, Department of Animal Science & Fisheries, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Port Harcourt, P.M.B. 5323, Choba, Port Harcourt, Nigeria 2 Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Calabar, P.M.B 1115, Calabar, Nigeria *Correspondence author: Email:
[email protected]. Tel: +2348032573003 1
ABSTRACT The performance of rats fed ripe gmelina fruit pulp (RGFP) in a 28 day trial using 30 male wistar albino rats shared into 5 equal groups, were evaluated. Five iso-nitrogenous and iso-caloric diets supplying 12% crude protein and 3800 kcal (ME)/kg diet were used. Diet 1 (T0 or control) had maize as the main energy source (0% level), while maize in diets 2 (T25), 3 (T50), 4 (T75) and 5 (T100) was replaced with RGFP at 25, 50, 75 and 100% levels, respectively. The 5 groups of rats were randomly allotted to the 5 diets on weight equalization basis. Completely Randomized Design (CRD); one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was employed. Significant (p0.05) among the treatments, hence, they had equal weights from the beginning of the trial. Rats fed diets with no RGFP (T0) had the heaviest (p
