GROWTH PERFORMANCE OF WEANER RABBITS (Oryctolagus cunniculus) FED DIETARY LEVELS OF SHEA NUT KERNEL (Vitellaria paradoxa) CAKE MEAL

Abstract

This study was conducted using forty five weaner rabbits weighing 540.00g to 566.67g in a completely randomized design (CRD) to study determine the growth performance of weaned rabbits fed dietary levels of shea nut kernel cake meal. The animals are were randomly allotted to five treatment groups namely treatment T1, T2, T3, T4, and T5 each consisting of three replicates and each replicate has had three animals. The animals were fed with varied levels of shea nut kernel cake meals (SNCM) viz; such that the animals were fed 0%, 1.5%, 3%, 4.5%, and 6%, SNCM for representing treatments T1, T2, T3, T4, and T5 respectively. Growth performance parameters were monitored. The results of growth performance of weaned rabbits fed levels of shea nut kernel cake meal (SNCM) diets showed that initial body weight, final body weight, Ttotal body weight gain and total feed intake, were not significantly (P> 0.05) different. Although T5 had numerically higher values for total feed intake, final body weight gain compared to other treatments, same trend was observed for total body weight gain. However, feed conversion ratio were significantly (P< 0.05) different across the treatments. From the result of the present study, it can concluded that the dietary inclusion of up to 6% SNCM in the diet of weanedr rabbits up to 6% can enhance their growth performance.