Alleviant Garlic Responses of Growing Rabbits Fed Crude Oil-Contaminated Diets

Abstract

Alleviant responses of growing rabbits due to garlic consumption following crude oil ingestions were investigated. 24 males New Zealand White rabbits weighing 870-925 grams were used in the study. The rabbits were randomly assigned to their experimental diets for 2 weeks following 2 weeks of pre-conditioning of the animals to their new environment. There were three dietary treatments as: T₀ (the negative control diet; received no crude oil and garlic), T₁ (received crude oil-contaminated diet at the concentration of 1.5g/kg of diet) and T₂ (received crude oil-contaminated diet as in T₁ but in addition received 20 g of garlic/kg of diet). At the end of study, blood samples were collected from all animals for blood parameters analyses. For all blood parameters studied: hemoglobin (Hb), packed cell volume (PCV), red blood cell (RBC), white blood cell (WBC) and monocytes (MON) crude oil ingestion significantly depressed (P < 0.05) Hb, PCV, RBC, WBC and MON. Garlic consumption following the crude oil ingestions had no reversal effects induced by the crude oil on these hematological parameters. It was concluded that garlic had no alleviant effects or responses on the blood parameters of rabbits that ingested crude oil.