Effects of partial replacement of soybean meal with cashew nut meal on haematological indices and serum biochemical profile of weaned rabbits were investigated using 30 weaned rabbits. The rabbits were allocated to 5 dietary treatments. Treatment was replicated thrice using two rabbits per replicate in a Completely Randomized Design (CRD). Five diet were formulated which contained 0% (control), 5, 10, 15 and 20% of cashew nut meal. The trial lasted for four (4) weeks. Results of haematological indices showed that the partial replacement of soybean meal with cashew nut meal resulted in a significant (P<0.05) difference in all the haematological indices and serum profile across the dietary treatments. Rabbits on diet 3 recorded the highest value of Packed Cell Volume while the lowest value (25.50 %) obtained for PVC was noticed in rabbits fed diet 5. The highest RBC (7.29%) was obtained for rabbits fed diet 2 while the lowest RBC (4.25%) was recorded for rabbits fed diet 5. The highest white blood cell of (5.10%) was recorded for rabbits on diet 1 while the lowest WBC of (4.85%) was obtained in diet 4. The highest haemoglobin value of (14.90%) was recorded for rabbits on diet 3 while the lowest haemoglobin value of (8.60%) was recorded for rabbits fed diet 2. Serum biochemical profile of rabbit showed that the Total Protein, Albumin, Globulin and Creatinine shows no significant (P<0.05) different while aspirate amino Transferase (AST) and alamine amino transferase (ALT) were significantly influenced by dietary (P>0.05) treatment. Rabbit fed diet 3 recorded highest total protein (5.03g/dl) while the lowest total protein value (4.31g/dl) was obtain for rabbits fed diet 1. The highest value of Albumin (2.01g/dl) was obtained for rabbits fed diet 5 while the lowest value (1.12g/dl) was recorded for rabbits fed diet 2. Rabbits fed diet 3 recorded the highest Globulin value (3.73g/dl) while the lowest value (2.96g/dl) was obtained for rabbits fed diet 5. It can be concluded that cashew nut meal can be fed to rabbits without having any adverse effect on haematological indices and serum biochemical profile of weaned rabbits.
Keywords: cashew nut meal, haematology, weaner rabbit
