EVALUATION OF VARYING LEVELS OF SESAME SEED MEAL (Sesamum indicum) IN THE DIET OF WEANED RABBITS

Abstract

Groundnut cake is one of major source of plant protein in the diet of livestock in Nigeria but expensive and this scenario led to this study in which the groundnut cake meal of the diet of weaned rabbits was replaced with sesame seed meal. A total of thirty six weaned rabbits of mean weight 517+3.6g were randomly allotted into four dietary treatments in which the diets were formulated to contain SSM at 0% (SSM) Control, 50% (SSM), 75% (SSM 3), 100% (SSM) as replacement for groundnut cake meal fraction in the diet of weaned rabbits. Each treatment was replicated three times and each replicate contained 3 rabbits per replicate in a completely randomized design. Parameters taken were weight gain, feed intake. Feed conversion ratio, total feed cost, and cost per weight gain were calculated. The mean daily feed intake was not significantly affected by the varying inclusion of SSM in the diet (P>0.05). The mean total weight gain followed the same pattern with the feed intake (P>0.05). The feed conversion ratio (FCR) which is the ratio of feed intake to weight gain was relatively the same in all the treatments. The highest cost/weight gain was recorded in the diet that containing zero% SSM while the lowest cost/weight gain was reported in SSM4. Based on the present results, groundnut cake meal fraction of the diet could be partially or totally replaced with sesame seed as a means of reducing feed cost without adverse effect on weight gain and feed efficiency.