Performance of Grower Rabbits Fed Graded Levels of Ficus sycomorus and Parkia biglobosa Leaf Meals

Abstract

Twenty (20) cross bred growing rabbits of mixed sexes were used for the experiment to investigate, their performance on four (4) dietary levels of Ficus sycomorus and Parkia biglobosa leaf meals (FLM & PLM). The experiment was laid out in a Completely Randomized Design (CRD). The rabbits were randomly selected and allotted into four (4) treatments of five (5) rabbits per treatment. Each treatment had five replicates with one rabbit per clutch. Treatments 1, 2, 3, and 4 received 0% forage leaf meal, 5% Ficus leaf meal, 5% Parkia leaf meal, and 2.5% Ficus + 2.5% Parkia leaf meals respectively. The results obtained in this study revealed that feed intake of rabbits on diet 4 (85.39g), 1 (83.38g) and 2 (72.19g) were similar but significantly (P<0.05) higher than those fed diet 3 (66.73g). Daily weight gains for the control diet(15.18g) was comparable with T₄ (15.04g). Feed cost (N/Kg), cost/kg gain and daily cost/rabbit (N/d) decreased with inclusion level of forage meal in the diets, with T₁ recording the highest cost in all aspects. Feed conversion ratio was similar (P>0.05) across the treatments.