CARCASS YIELD AND ECONOMICS OF PRODUCTION OF GROWING RABBITS (Oryctolagus cunniculus) FED DIFFERENT TYPES AND LEVELS OF RUMEN CONTENT

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to investigate the carcass yield and the economics of rabbit production. Rabbit were fed different types and levels of rumen content. Forty-eight (48) mongrel rabbits were randomly allotted to six diets containing rumen content of caprine, ovine and bovine each had 30 and 40% levels of inclusion in 3x2 factorial arrangements completely randomized design (CRD). Results showed that the interaction effect did not affect live weight (1075.00-1487.50g), carcass weight (456.25-775.00g) and dressed weight (38.36-52.86%). There were significant different (P>0.05) in the grow performance of rabbit fed different levels of rumen content. Most of the organs were not affected by the interaction effect (P<0.05) except the lungs (0.42-0.63%), head (7.72-9.25%) and small intestine (3.50-4.38%) which were affected by the interaction effects (P<0.05). Most of the parameters assessed were not affected by the main effect (P>0.05) of types of rumen contents except the kidney (0.15-0.64%), stomach (1.2-1.58%) and small intestine (0.93-1.19%) which were affected (P<0.05). The economics of production showed that feed cost per kg decreased slightly at higher levels of inclusion for the three types of rumen content. The feed cost per kg gain also decreased as the level of rumen content increase. Therefore rumen content should be included at higher levels in the diet of rabbits for enhanced carcass yield and reduce cost of production