WATER CONSUMPTION PATTERN AND PERFORMANCE OF MATURE RABBITS FED ONLY CONCENTRATE DIET

Abstract

The study was conducted to determine the water consumption pattern and performance of mature rabbit crosses (New Zealand White X California) fed only concentrate diet. Thirty-six rabbits (25±1 wk old) were alloted to three water treatment groups such that there were 12 rabbits per treatment and each treatment was replicated thrice. The three watering schedules were the contol with water served free choice; water was served 10 hours and water was served for two 5-hours periods per day. The animals were fed same concentrate diet ad libitum and the experiment lasted for 60 days. The results indicated that the highest water consumption per day was recorded in the control group followed by those served in two 5-hour period daily. The periodic water measurements revealed that More than half of the daily water consumption in the 10 hour groups were obtained in the early period of water availability (0800-1300 he). The feed consumption, but not weight gain was significantly (P < 0.05) affected by watering treatments.