GROWTH PERFORMANCE, CARCASS CHARACTERISTICS AND VISCERAL ORGAN WEIGHTS OF RABBIT DOES FED YAM PEEL MEAL AS A REPLACEMENT FOR MAIZE

Abstract

The study was aimed at evaluating the effect of replacing maize with yam peel meal (YPM) on the growth performance, carcass characteristics and visceral organ weights of rabbit does. The experiment was conducted at the Rabbitry unit, Livestock Teaching and Research Farm, Joseph Sarwuan Tarka University, Makurdi. A total of twenty-four (24), seven (7) weeks old female rabbits were used for this study which lasted a period of 56 days. The rabbits were grouped into four (4)
according to Four (4) treatments. The rabbits were grouped into four (4) treatments, each treatment replicated into six (6) with each replicate containing one (1) rabbit. The rabbits were given water and feed ad - libitum. The data collected were initial body weight, weekly body weight, feed intake, water intake, carcass weight and weights of visceral organs. The data collected were subjected to One Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software. The result showed no significant (P>0.05) differences among all the parameters measured. The result of the study indicates that yam peel meal can be used successfully to replace maize up to 75% in conventional rabbit feeds without any deleterious effect on the growth performance, carcass characteristics and visceral organ weights of growing rabbit does.