THE EFFECTS OF BANANA PEELS MEAL INCLUSION ON OFFALS AND CARCASS CHARACTERISTICS OF GROWER RABBITS

Abstract

The study was conducted to assess the carcass characteristics of grower rabbits fed inclusion levels of banana peels meal (BPL) at 0, 10,20 and 30% levels in diets treatment (T) 1,2,3 and 4 respectively. The study was conducted at teaching and research farm of School of Vocational Education, Federal College of
Education, Yola, for eleven weeks. A total of thirty six (36) grower rabbits aged 5-7 weeks with mean initial weight of 837.50+ 0.2g were used. Randomized Block Design was used in the research and carcass characteristicswere taken as parameters. The results indicated that significant differences exist in all the
parameters measured (p≤0.05) with T4 having the highest in terms of Head weight 73g, Dressing percentage 57.01%, Carcass weight 764g, Liver 4.0g and Small Intestine 90cm respectively. Based on the results obtained, banana peels canbe included up to 30% as one of the alternative feed to rabbits as
substitute for maize so as to reduce the total feed costs which constitute about 60% of production cost.