RESPONSE OF WEANER RABBITS TO DIETARY LEVELS OF MAIZE MILLING RESIDUE AND ITS COST BENEFIT ANALYSIS

Abstract

The study evaluated the growth performance, and cost benefit of feeding maize milling residue to weaner rabbits. Forty (40) mixed breeds of both sexes aged between 8 and 10 weeks with initial weight of 759-771 g were allotted to four experimental diets. Each treatment consists of ten (10) rabbits with one per replicate. In a completely randomize design. Maize milling residue (MMR) was included at 0, 30, 35 and 40% coded as treatment T1, T2, T3 and T4 respectively. The experiment lasted for eight weeks and rabbits were fed diets as well as clean drinking water throughout the period of experiment. Data were collected on growth performance and cost benefit analysis. The result of the performance parameters measured were not significantly affected by the dietary treatments except for feed conversion ratio of P<0.05. Rabbits fed T3 (35% MMR) had the best FCR than those fed other diets. Feed cost/kg reduced linearly as the level of MMR increased in the diet. However, 35 and 40% MMR diets were better economically compared to control diet (0% MMR diet). It was concluded that inclusion level of up to 40% MMR did not compromise growth performance and economic benefit of rabbits. Therefore, further research should be conducted to determine the utilization of maize milling residue by other species of monogastric animals.