Carcass Characteristics of Weaner Rabbits Fed Graded Levels of Palm Kernel Cake Based Diets

Abstract

Sixteen weaner rabbits of mixed sexes and breeds with initial weight between 0.6-0.9kg were fed diets containing different levels of palm kernel cake (PKC) inclusion to determine their growth response, carcass characteristics and dressing percentage. The animals were allowed to acclimatize for one week and then randomly allotted to four dietary treatments; T₁, T₂, T₃, and T₄ to contain four rabbits per treatment; each having replicates of two animals per replicate. T₁ diet served as control, having 0% level of PKC, while the remaining diets contained PKC at the following levels, 5, 10 and 15% respectively. At the end of the feeding trial, two rabbits were selected from each treatment, starved overnight and slaughtered by severing the Jugular vein. Final live weight, slaughter weight, carcass weight, dressing percentage and weight of other organs such as skin, head, forelimbs, hind limbs, intestine, heart, liver and kidney were determined. The result showed that there was no significant difference (p>0.05) across treatment means in all the parameters measured. It was therefore concluded that any of the experimental diets can be fed to weaner rabbits without any negative effects on their carcass characteristics.