الفهرس 
Introduction
InsulinOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
The present study was carried out at Animal Production Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Mansoura University. The experimental work was carried out in the Rabbit Farm, belonging to Misr Textile Company, El-Mahalla El-Kobra city, Gharbiah governorate, during the period from January to May 2008. The objectives of this study was to determine the effect of supplemental chromium picolinate (CrP) and insulin or their combination on reproductive performance of NZW doe rabbits and growth performance of their offspring, 25 mature does and 5 bucks were used in this study. Does were divided into 4 groups, G1 (N=5, control), G2 (n=7, daily oral dose from CrP (18 μg of CrP/kg LBW for two weeks), G3 (n=6, i.m. injected with 8 U insulin/doe/injection, twice at 7 day-interval), and G4 (n=7, 9 μg of CrP/kg + 4 U insulin/doe/injection). All treatments were two weeks pre-insemination, while the experimental period lasted up to 3 wk post-partum of the 1st litter. Rabbits were fed ad. libitum, on commercially pelleted diet (17% CP and 12.3 MJ ME/kg). Does in each group were naturally mated with untreated sexually mature bucks. Live body weight (LBW), feed intake (FI), milk produced (MP) of each doe was recorded during three successive weeks post-partum. Blood samples were collected at the end of the experimental period. The obtained results could be summerized as the following: During the treatment period (2 weeks), FI decreased (P<0.05) in G2 and was not affected in G3 and G4 compared with the control group. However, during post-partum period (1-2 or 2-3 wk), FI decreased (P<0.05) in G2 compared with G3 and G4, but did not differ significantly from the control group. There was insignificant effect of treatment on LBW of does during treatment weeks or at 3 wk post-partum. Concentration of Cr increased (P<0.05) by 16% from 0.811 ppm in the control group to 1.311 ppm in G2, to 1.144 ppm modest in G4 (), and to 0.889 ppm in G3. Chromium concentration increased (P<0.05) during the 1st wk (1.333 ppm), then insignificantly decreased during the 2nd wk (1.191 ppm) of treatment. Concentration of glucose decreased (P<0.05) in G2, G3 and G4 as compared to the control group by about 20.6, 14.8 and 20.8%, respectively. Glucose concentration decreased (P<0.05) during the 1st and 2nd wk of treatment to 81.6 and 81.8 mg/dl as compared to pre-treatment (100.5 mg/dl). The effect of treatment on concentration of creatinine was not significant. While it insignificantly decreased from 1.20 mg/dl pre-treatment to 1.11 mg/dl during the 1st wk and increased (P<0.05) to 1.36 mg/dl during the 2nd wk of treatment. Activity of AST and ALT increased (P<0.05) in all treatment groups as compared to the control one. Also, their activity increased (P<0.05) during the 1st and 2nd wk of treatment.Concentration of T3 and T4 in blood serum was not affected significantly by treatment or during the 1st and 2nd wk of treatment. Milk produced from doe rabbits was higher (P<0.05) in G3 (213.6 g/doe) than in other groups (186.2-199.5 g/doe). It increased (P<0.05) by increasing lactation week up to the 3rd wk. Conception rate was higher (P<0.05) in G3 and G4 (100%) than in G2 and control groups (85.7 and 60%) after the 1st service and was 85.7 and 80% as cumulative rate after the 2nd service. Number of services per conception (NS/C) was lesser (P<0.05) in G3 and G4 than in the control group (1 service in each vs. 1.40 in control). Does in G2 showed lesser NS/C (1.14 services/conception) than the control group and greater than G3 and G4, but the differences were not significant. Litter size at birth was 8.5, 7.5, 7.0 and 4.5/litter in G3, G4, G2 and control group. Average total litter weight per doe was the highest (P<0.05) for does in G3, followed by G4 and the lowest in G2 and control groups. Average bunny weight was not affected at each of the first three weeks of age. Total litter weight was affected during all ages, being higher (P<0.05) only in G3 at each of the first three weeks of age as compared to other groups. Viability rate was the lowest in Cr group as compared to the other groups with advancing age, reflecting the lowest viability rate (61.3%) during the interval from birth up to 3 week of age. However, viability rate in other treated groups (INS or INS+CR) was slightly higher (92.9 and 78.9%) than that in the control group (73.3%).Hepato-somatic index (HSI)increased (P<0.05) in INS and Cr+INS groups as compared to the control group, however, that of Cr group did not differ from the control group. The differences in renal-somatic index (RSI) among experimental groups were not significant and RSI ranged from 0.54 to 0.58. There was inconsistent differences in ovarian-somatic index (OSI) among the experimental groups, being the highest (P<0.05) in INS, followed by those in Cr or Cr+INS groups and the control group. In conclusion, treatment of doe rabbits with two injections of insulin (8 U/doe) or 9 μgCrP/kg plus 4 U insulin/doe/injection), 7 days apart or had beneficial effects on reproductive performance of NZW does in term of increasing litter size and growth performance of their offspring in term of increasing litter weight. In addition, no deleterious effects were observed on the healthy status of treated does in term of normal function and histogenesis of liver and kidney of treated does as compared to the control.