Use of the legume tree cropsGliricidia sepium andLeucaena leucocephala as green feeds for growing rabbits

A total of 157 New Zealand White rabbits were used in three separate experiments to determine the performance of growing rabbits which received leaves of the browse plants —Gliricidia sepium andLeucaena leucocephala as green feeds. Feeding of gliricidia allowed for the daily consumption of 65.1 g of pelleted concentrates and this was significantly (P < 0.05) higher than the pellet intake of 52.7 g for the leucaena-fed rabbits. On a dry matter basis rabbits consumed 7.17 g of leucaena leaves or 5.86 g of gliricidia leaves daily, suggesting that leucaena was more palatable. In all the studies the daily rates of gain ranged from 18.1 to 21.2 g for the gliricidia-fed rabbits and from 13.5 to 14.3 g for the leucaena-fed rabbits. The differences were statistically significant (P < 0.01). The feed/gain ratio of 3.07 for the gliricidia-fed rabbits was significantly (P < 0.01) higher than the value of 3.91 for the leucaena-fed rabbits. Leucaena-fed rabbits produced reddish-brown urine and showed serious loss of hair. They also had very dark and tender liver which had a lower % (2.72%) of body weight when compared with 3.06% for the gliricidia-fed rabbits and 2.94% for the rabbits which received no green feed. Histological examination showed that kidneys and livers of rabbits which received no green feed had normal and well preserved architecture. Kidneys of leucaena-fed rabbits showed serious degenerative changes in the tubules while the gliricidia-fed rabbits had mild degenerative changes of the tubules. The livers of the leucaena-fed rabbits showed a dense chronic inflammatory reaction in the portal tracts. The livers of the gliricidia-fed rabbits had relatively well preserved architecture. The degenerative effects noted in the livers and kidneys of leucaena-fed rabbits as well as the poor performance of these rabbits may be attributed to mimosine. The results suggested that gliricidia is a better green feed than leucaena for rabbits. It is recommended that leucaena should not constitute more than 50% of the green feed given to rabbits (or more than 7% of the feed dry matter).