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ABSTRACT
Albino rabbits are considered and used as experimental model in researches and asuch should be adequately cared for and nourished. This study was aimed at evaluating the biological profiles of ripe and unripe plantain peels fed to albino rabbits using standard procedures. Thirty (30) young albino rabbit were purchased from a rabbit vendor at Aduwawa market in Benin City. The Albino Rabbits are randomly grouped into three groups, each group comprised of ten (10) Rabbits each and were allocated into three (3) nutritional treatments (commercial growers mash alone (CGMA), ripe plantain peels alone (RPPA) and unripe plantain peels alone (URPPA) respectively). Ripe and unripe plantain peels were collected from plantain vendors, washed, cut into smaller pieces, weighed and fed to the rabbits. The commercial growers marsh, ripe and unripe plantain peels were respectively fed to rabbits for twenty-eight days. The weight of all animals (recorded every seven days) and their blood/serum parameters were recorded twenty-four hours after the last day of feeding. The result revealed that ripe and unripe plantain peels, were observed to significantly improved weight of the rabbits compared with rabbits fed with commercial grower’s marsh. The heamatology results revealed significant increase in vital blood parameters such as packed cell volume (PCV), White blood cells (WBC), Red blood Cells (RBS) and platelet (PLT). The results obtained from the renal and hepatic function test revealed significant decrease in vital sera parameters such as Alkaline Phosphatase, Alanine Aminotransferse and Aspartate aminotransferase indicating their protective properties against any form of toxicity that would have affected the liver and kidney. The unripe plantain peels revealed better outcomes in all the parameters studied. This study has shown that the utilization of ripe and unripe plantain peels in the diet of albino rabbitsproduced better effect on growth Performance, heamatological parameters, renal and hepatic function. Therefore the ripe and unripe plantain peels can be used as good sources of livestock feed in rearing of rabbit in Nigeria and beyond.
