Effect of Feeding Raw Kapok (Ceiba pentandra) Seed Meal on the Growth Performance, Nutrient Digestibility, Carcass and Organ Weights of Weaner Rabbits

The study was carried out to evaluate the effects of feeding raw kapok seed meal on growth performance, nutrient digestibility and carcass characteristics of weaner rabbits. Thirty (30) weaner rabbits were used for the study. Five diets were compounded using raw kapok seed meal (RKSM) at 0, 5, 10, 15 and 20% inclusion levels. The rabbits were weighed and randomly assigned to the five dietary treatments replicated three times with two rabbits per replicate in a completely randomized design. The proximate composition of raw kapok seed meal showed it contains 89.51% dry matter, 17.45% crude fibre, 22.59%, crude protein, 10.05% ether extracts, 6.53%, ash and 43.38% nitrogen free extract. The seed meal also contains tannin (2.53%), Alkaloid (3.34%), phenol (2.48%), flavonoid (2.95%), saponin (1.30%), trypsin inhibitors (17.97%), hemagglutinin (1.69%) and total oxalate (1.12%).The result of growth performance and nutrient digestibility decreased significantly (P<0.01) as the dietary levels of raw kapok seed meal increases. Similarly carcass and internal organ weights were significantly influenced by the dietary levels of RKSM. The relative weights of liver, lungs and kidney significantly (P<0.01) increased beyond 15% RKSM inclusion in the diet. It was concluded that RKSM can be fed to weaner rabbit up to 10% inclusion levels without any adverse effect on the rabbit performance.