EFFECTS OF BAMBARA NUT OFFAL FED AS A REPLACEMENT FOR WHEAT OFFAL ON GROWTH PERFORMANCE AND CARCASS YIELD OF WEANER RABBITS

Abstract

To evaluate the effect of Bambara nut offal (BNO) fed as a replacement for wheat offal (WO) on growth performance and carcass yield of weaner rabbits, a total of 24 mixed breed unsexed weaner rabbits were purchased, weighed and randomly grouped into four dietary treatments of 6 replicates each. The four dietary treatments were made up of varying ratios (in percentages) of BNO and WO at 0:100, 25:75, 50:50 and 75:25 respectively. Initial and final body weights, feed intake and feed conversion ratio (FCR) of the rabbits were taken on a weekly basis and the carcass yield was determined at the end of the study. The experiment was laid out in a completely randomized design and data obtained were subjected to one-way analysis of variance. The study showed that replacement of WO with BNO did not significantly influence (p>0.05) growth performance of rabbits across replacement ratios. Increasing the ratio of BNO to WO produced carcass yield closer to that of rabbits on 100% WO. Also, no significant differences (p>0.05) were recorded for carcass parts of commercial importance across treatments aside from tail where rabbits on 25%BNO recorded value (0.45g) significantly higher (p<0.05) than others on higher BNO levels but all are similar in weights to that of rabbits on 100%WO. Replacing WO with BNO in weaner rabbits’ diets is therefore recommended as it produced similar results on growth performance and carcass yields.