ESTIMATION OF BODY COMPOSION IN MATURE RABBITS BY APPLICATION OF ANTIPYRINE DILUTION TECHNIQUE

Seventeen adult rabbits of 7 months old were injected, by heart puncture, each with 3 ml of antipyrine saline solution (50 mg/l ml 0.9 saline solution). Samples of blood were taken after half and one hour from the injection. Then the rabbits were killed by chloroform inhalation and their bodies were chemically analysed for moisture, pro tein, fat and ash contents. The results were as follows: 1. The estimated water values using the dilution technique were highly correlated
with those determined by the whole body analysis (r=0.730) and showed a high deg ree of accuracy after adding a correction factor averaged 0.91% of the estimated
one. 2 Fat content was Inversely correlated with water content (r= 0.611), and it could
be estimated by using the regression equation: y = 8.2833-0.0882 x. $ The body protein content could be estimated either by using its constant percen
tage in the fat-free dry carcass (76.33%) or by the linear regression equation of protein content as expressed by the equation: y = 78.4738 - 0.8129 X.