Heamatological Characteristics of Young Rabbits fed a mixture of Alchornea cordifolia/Pawpaw leaf meal

This study was conducted to investigate the effect of Alchornea cordifolia leaf meal (ACLM)/Pawpaw leaf meal (PLM) on the haematology of young rabbits aged 12-14 wks. The study involved twenty four (24) young rabbits of both sexes and of mixed breeds randomly allocated to four treatment groups of two replicates per treatment with three rabbits in each replicate. The treatment groups were designated as T1, T2, T3 and T4, for rabbits fed control meal of concentrate and forage, rabbits fed Alchornea cordifolia leaf meal (ACLM), rabbits fed pawpaw leaf meal (PLM)and rabbits fed a mixture of ACLM and PLM at a ratio of 50:50, respectively. Cool clean drinking water was provided ad libitum to all the treatment groups while the experiment lasted. The experiment lasted for eight weeks at the end of which blood samples were collected from the animals on treatment basis and haematological parameters examined. Haematological parameters examined included Haemaglobin (Hb), Packed cell volume (PVC), Red blood cell (RBC), White blood cell (WBC), Neutrophils, Lymphocytes, Eosinophils, Monocytes and Basophils. In these parameters considered, Pawpaw leaf meal showed a significant higher values in Hb (13.35 ± 0.05), PVC (41.50 ± 0.05) RBC (6.08 ± 0.09) and WBC (9.15±1.55) than the control group and other treatment groups. There were however no significant differences (P > 0.05) in virtually all these parameters in the control group (T1) and the group fed ACLM and PLM mixture (T4). Therefore, it could be considered that feeding rabbits with Alchornea cordifolia leaf meal, pawpaw leaf meal and their mixture at ratio of 50:50 has no adverse effect on the blood (haematology) of the animals.