What are the wonderful uses of pine needle powder in rabbit farming
Pine needles, that is, the leaves of pine trees, are not only rich in nutrients but also contain phytoncides, which can promote the growth of livestock and poultry, prevent gastrointestinal diseases and various vitamin deficiency diseases, and have the effect of increasing semen output in breeding male animals. Adding 2.5% pine needle powder to the diet of breeding rabbits can increase the libido and mating ability of male rabbits, promote normal estrus and ovulation in female rabbits, increase the conception rate by 6%, increase the kindling rate by 9.3%, increase the average litter weight by 2.5%, and increase the average birth weight by 72%.
Processing pine needles into pine needle powder makes storage, transportation and use convenient. If the rosin phospholipids and tannins in the pine needles can be removed during processing, the palatability will be even better. The traditional method of processing pine needle powder is also very simple: wash the collected pine needles and young twigs, dry them in the sun, and crush them. Pine needle powder is green in color, has a fresh fragrance, and contains rich nutrients. Pine needle powder contains 7%-12% protein, has 18 kinds of amino acids such as lysine and aspartic acid, and the total amino acid content reaches 5.5%-8.1%; it contains 7%-12% crude fat, 24%-26% crude fiber, and about 37% nitrogen-free extract. The trace elements iron, manganese, cobalt and others contained in pine needle powder are higher than those in the dried stems and leaves of herbaceous and leguminous plants. Pine needle powder also contains a variety of vitamins, among which the content of vitamin C and carotene is the most prominent.
At the same time, pine needle powder also contains phytoncides and has disease-preventing and disease-resistant effects. Adding pine needle leaf powder to the diet of domestic rabbits can significantly promote the growth of domestic rabbits, increase the wool yield of wool rabbits, increase the number of kits born to female rabbits and improve the survival rate of kits. At the same time, pine needles and pine needle powder can also prevent and treat diseases in domestic rabbits. Boil fresh pine needles in water for 1 hour, take the pine needle juice and feed it to rabbits once a day for 3 consecutive days, which can prevent and treat colds in domestic rabbits.