Fawzia Amer Hassan1*, Hassan Abd El-Halim2, Fayza Ahmed Sdeek3, Osama Ahmed Elghalid4, Ahmed Mohamed Abd El-Hady4

Abstract | The objective of this work was to evaluate the pomegranate seeds powder (PSP) as an effective antioxidant in growing rabbit’s diets to alleviate the adverse effects of organochlorine pesticides residues (OCPs) on growth performance, antioxidant status and physiological parameters of growing rabbits. A total of 120 unsexed weaned V-Line male rabbits (4 weeks of age) were assigned at random to five experimental groups. The control group was fed a diet free of PSP. The negative control was fed a diet free of PSP and OCPs, while the other empirical groups were fed the same diet supplemented with 500, 750 and 1000 g of PSP/100 kg diet. The results indicated that PSP contained content of vitamin C and vitamin E; 3.13 and 1.45 mg/100g, respectively. The content of total phenols was 0.27% and total flavonoids were 0.21 %. The accumulation of OCPs was concentrated in the rabbit`s liver, followed by the muscle. The control diet contaminated with Alpha Benzene hexachloride (αBHC), Delta Benzene hexachloride (∆BHC), dildren and methoxychlor values. Dietary supplementation of PSP at levels of 750 and 1000 g tended to improve average daily gain and feed conversion ratio compared to the control group. Rabbits fed diet containing 1000g PSP had the lowest mortality %. Edible giblets were significantly increased in the treated groups. The values of Hemoglobin, Packed cell volume, White Blood Cell, lymphocyte, total protein, globulin, higher density lipoprotein (HDL), Total antioxidant capacity (TAC) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) were improved, but plasma low density lipoprotein (LDL) and total lipids levels were decreased in the treated groups. A significant decrease of plasma and liver malondialdehyde (MDA) level and significant increase in liver (GPx) and catalase (CAT) were observed in rabbits fed diets supplemented with PSP groups. Conclusively, dietary pomegranate seed powder supplementation improved growth performance and enhanced the antioxidant status. So it eliminated the adverse effects of oxidative stress induced by organochlorine pesticides of growing rabbits diets.

Keywords | Pomegranate seeds, Antioxidants, Growth performance, Oxidative stress, Rabbits.