Dried rumen waste as feedstuff for growing rabbits
1 Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Federal University, Gashua, Nigeria.
2 Department of Animal Production, Ramat Polytechnic, Maiduguri, Borno State, Nigeria.
Research Article
International Journal of Science and Technology Research Archive, 2022, 02(02), 095–102.
Article DOI: 10.53771/ijstra.2022.2.2.0044
Publication history:
Received on 23 April 2022; revised on 09 June 2022; accepted on 11 June 2022
Abstract:
This study was carried out to evaluate the growth performance, carcass chaaracteristics and haematological parameters of growing rabbits fed diets containing graded levels of Dried Rumen Waste (DRW) as a replacement for maize. A total of 48 weaner rabbits (mixed breed, average weight, 471 + 0.2 g) were randomly allocated to four dietary treatments comprising graded levels of 0, 10, 20, and 30 % DRW in the diets. Diet 1 (0% DRW) served as the control diet. Each of the four treatments was replicated thrice. Each replicate had four rabbits in a Completely Randomized Design. Feed and water were supplied ad libitum throughout the study period. All the performance indicators (average daily gain, 14.77 – 15.87 g; feed conversion ratio, 3.71-4.06) remained similar (P>0.05) regardless of the inclusion levels of DRW in the diets except the average daily intake (56.94-64.38 g; P<0.05). Red blood cell counts (4.10-6.10 x g/100ml) increased (P>0.05) while mean corpuscular volume (76.00-90.24 fl) and mean corpuscular haemoglobin (24.51-30.00 pg) decreased (P>0.05) in response to the inclusion levels of DRW in the diets. All the serum indices measured were not significantly influenced (P>0.05) by the treatments. It was concluded that DRW could replace 30 % dietary maize in the diets of growing rabbits without compromising growth performance, and health status of growing rabbits.
Keywords:
Rabbits; Rumen Waste; Performance; Haematology; Serum
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