Replacement of Feed Concentrate with Graded Levels of Cassava Leaf Meal in the Diet of Growing Rabbits: Effect on Feed and Growth Parameters

Abstract

Forty growing rabbits with mean live-weight of 0.774kg+0.04 were randomly fed on five diets containing graded levels of Cassava Leaf Meal (CLM). The general objective of the work was to determine the replacement value of concentrate with CLM in the diet of growing rabbits by assessing the feed quality and growth parameters. Specifically, the Voluntary Feed Intake (VFI), Average Daily Gain (ADG), Feed Conversion Ratio (FCR) and digestibility of various nutrients were estimated. The Dry Matter (DM) intake of the rabbits ranged from 44.24-66.85 g/day per rabbit whereas the Crude Protein (CP) and energy intakes per day per rabbit ranged from 9.95-13.16 g and 204.39-291.47 kcal, respectively. Digestibility coefficients ranging from 67.06-81.09; 54.13-77.50; 24.95-44.43; 48.99-75.65 and 65.40-79.16 were obtained for DM, CP, CF, EE and energy, respectively. The FCR and ADG ranges of 3.13-5.27 and 8.43-21.36 g/d/rabbit were obtained. Rabbits performed satisfactory at 15% and 30% inclusion levels of CLM. It was observed that higher levels of CLM inclusion resulted in a significant decrease in the values of all the parameters examined and a forage free diet is not ideal for rabbit production, as it could induce diarrhoea.