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Analysis Of Growth Performance Of Rabbit (Orynctolagus Cuniculus) Fed With Rabbit Feed And Diverse Feed Stuff.

ABSTRACT

This study was carried out to evaluate the effect of combination of agricultural by product with forages on the growth performance of the growing rabbits (Orynctolagus cunniculus). A total of thirty rabbits, aged 5-6 weeks with an initial weight ranging between 400g and 450g, were randomly assigned to two treatments (A and B). Rabbits in treatment one (A) were fed rabbit feed while the treatment two (B) were fed forage and diverse foodstuffs. Each treatment had three rabbits and three replicate in a completely randomized design and the experiment lasted for Twelve weeks. The following growth indices were monitored; weight gain, percentage weight gain, specific growth rate, and feed conversion ratio.

The proximate analysis of the experimental diets revealed that Treatment B had higher levels of crude protein (21.69%) and crude fat (14%) compared to Treatment A (16.10%) and (8%). Treatment B also had a higher carbohydrate content (64.22%) and Treatment A (53.95%) The results showed that rabbits in Treatment B was highest in weight gain (660.67), percentage weight gain (161.14%) and specific growth rate (5.95) compared to those in Treatment A (337.33g), (80.98), and (3.67g) and Treatment B was significantly difference from Treatment A in each of the dietary treatments. The best food conversion ratio was recorded for the rabbit fed ration type B (16.32g) and least in ration A (31.26g) and ration type A was significantly (p<0.05) different from ration B. In conclusion, incorporating forages and concentrates in the diet of rabbits resulted in improved growth performance, and these findings suggest that forages and diverse feedstuff can be a valuable component of rabbit diets to optimize their growth and feed utilization.

Keywords: Rabbit; feed; growth and agricultural by-products.