Supplemental antioxidants in rabbit nutrition: A review

Dietary antioxidants protect tissues against oxidative damage. There are a variety of stress factors that can disturb normal cell functions, initiating chain reactions that can compromise cell integrity and induce excessive production of reactive oxygen species. These active metabolites could result in damage to the cell structures, including proteins, lipids, and DNA, and induce physiological and pathological changes in the animal resulting in poor performance and worsening its meat quality. Alpha-tocopheryl acetate (TOH) and vitamin C are the most widely used dietary antioxidants in practical rabbit nutrition. The effect of selenium as antioxidant in most rabbit studies is doubtful. There is a growing interest on the use of natural supplements with antioxidant properties in growing rabbit feeding that could protect against oxidative damage, while providing the meat with a valuable source of antioxidants and other beneficial biological substances. TOH supplementation at the rate of 200 mg/kg diet could increase α-tocopherol content of L. dorsi and L. lumborum muscles about three times (r=0.894) and of thigh muscle about two and half times (r=0.716) compared to no TOH supplementation. Also, the same level of TOH could minimize the oxidative rancidity of L. dorsi and L. lumborum muscles by about 48% (r=0.632). Other effects of supplemental antioxidants related to growth performance and meat quality traits reveal no clear trend.This review underlines the role of supplementary dietary antioxidants on performance of growing rabbits and on improving the functionality and protection against oxidative rancidity of the meat.