THE IMPACT OF KITCHEN WASTE AND SOME SELECTED VEGETABLE LEAVES ON THE PERFORMANCE OF CROSSBRED RABBITS

Abstract

This study focused on determining the effect of selelcted vegetable leaves on the performance crossbred rabbits. The leaves of seven vegetables: pawpaw (Carica papaya) carrot (Daucus carota), garden egg (Solanum macrocarpon), tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) were harvested, dried and milled to produce pawpaw leaf meal (MLM), carrot leaf meal (OLM), garden egg leaf meal (GELM) and tomato leaf meal (TLM). Remnants of food that remain after cooking, such as fruit and vegetable scraps, bread, eggshell/, broken grains and leftovers on plates was supplemented as kitchen scraps. Sixty four (64) weanling male rabbits weighed about 800 grams were divided into four groups, each consisting of 16 rabbits which were replicated 4 times in a completely randomized design. They were fed different combinations of kitchen scraps and the dry leaves as follows: kitchen scraps+pawpaw leaf meal (CONTROL), kitchen scraps+carrot leaf meal (KCLM), kitchen scraps+garden egg leaf meal (KGLM) and kitchen scraps+tomato leaf meal (KTLM). The respective treatments and water were supplied ad libitum for a 12th week experimental period. The results showed that rabbits fed KCLM had a significantly (P<0.05) higher weight gain compared to those in the control group. On the other hand, rabbits fed KGLM and KTLM had lower weight gains than the control group. Feed intake was significantly (P<0.05) higher in rabbits fed KGLM and KTLM compared to the control group, while rabbits fed KCLM had similar feed intake to the control group. Feed conversion ratio was similar between the control group and rabbits fed KCLM, but poorer in rabbits fed KGLM and KTLM. Dressed weight was significantly (P<0.05) higher in rabbits fed KCLM than in the control group, while it was lower in rabbits fed KGLM and KTLM. However, dressing percentage was similar between the control group and rabbits fed KCLM, but lower in rabbits fed KGLM and KTLM. In conclusion, carrot leaf was found to enhance the performance of rabbits when supplemented with kitchen scraps, compared to garden egg leaf and tomato leaf.