Influence of Feed Restriction on Post-Weaning Growth Performance and Mortality Rate in Weaner Rabbits

Abstract

Data on 48 weaner rabbits from six different genotypes were used for this study. The genotypes were New Zealand White × New Zealand White (NZ×NZ), Chinchilla × Chinchilla (CH × CH), Dutch × Dutch (DU×DU), New Zealand White × Chinchilla (NZ×CH), New Zealand White × Dutch (NZ×DU) and Chinchilla × Dutch (CH×DU). The 48 weaner rabbits were grouped into four feeding regimes (2 weaner rabbits from each genotype, making a total of 12 in each feeding regime). The feeding regimes consist of ad libitum feeding (A), 14 hours feed restriction/day (B), 10 hours feed restriction/day (C) and 6 hours feed restriction/day (D). The experiment was conducted at the Skills Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development Centre of National Agricultural Extension Research and Liaison Services (NAERLS), Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria-Nigeria. The traits studied were body weight (BW), body length (BL), chest girth (CG), head-to-shoulder(HS), shoulder-to-tail drop (ST), length of hind leg (LHL), ear length (EL), height at withers (HTW) and the mortality rate was also recorded and transformed into logarithms. Data collected were subjected to Analysis of Variance Procedure of SAS and a fixed effect model was used with significant means separated using Duncan Multiple Range Test. The mean body weights obtained were 772.67±38.72 g, 688.62±32.16 g, 730.75±35.24 g and 705.37±33.45 g for feeding regime A, B, C and D respectively which were not significantly different (p>0.05). It can be concluded that any of the feeding regimes can be adopted.