COMPARATIVE EVALUATION OF THE GROWTH PERFORMANCE AND CARCASS CHARACTERISTICS OF WEANED RABBITS FED SELECTED FORAGE LEAVES

Abstract

A 77 day feeding trial was conducted to comparatively evaluate some selected forages in combination with concentrate diet on the growth performance and carcass characteristics of weaner rabbits. A total of 36 weaner rabbits with an initial weight of 600-700g of mixed breeds and sexes, aged between 5-6 weeks, were randomly allotted to 4 dietary treatments with 9 rabbits per treatment and 3 rabbits per replicate in a completely randomised design. The rabbits were ratio 1:2 in their sex distribution (1 male and 2 female). Rabbits in T1 were fed with Tridax procumbens (coat buttons) which served as the control, T2, Senna occidentalis (Negro coffee), T3, Mangifera indica (mango) leaf and T4 with Luffa aegyptiaca (sponge gourd). The forages were fed dried and all the treatment rabbits were also fed the same concentrate diet. Growth performance result showed that final weight, weight gain, and feed conversion ratio were not significantly affected by the treatments. The carcass characteristics of the rabbits showed no significant differences among the treatment means. It was concluded that the selected forages had no detrimental effect on the growth performance and carcass characteristics of rabbits.