Effect of monosodium glutamate (MSG) on growth performance, carcass characteristics and haematology profile of rabbits

The study was carried out to evaluate the effects of dietary monosodium glutamate (MSG) on growth performance, haematological parameters and carcass characteristics of rabbits. The feeding trial lasted for 46 days. A completely randomized design was used and sixteen New Zealand White rabbits with an average initial weight of 612.5±9.1g were randomly assigned to four treatment diets with four replicates in each group. The tested diets were T0 (with no MSG), T1 (0.2g MSG), T2 (0.4g MSG) and T3 (0.6g MSG) per kilogram of feed respectively. Feed intake, feed digestibility, feed convection ratio (FCR), growth performance, haematological parameters and carcass characteristics did not differed not (P>0.05). Monosodium glutamate (MSG) used as feed additive did not improve growth performance and affect the health of the rabbits. Key words: Feed additative, monosodium glutamate, rabbit