Nutrient Digestibility and Carcass Measurement of Growing Rabbits Fed Graded Levels of Bovine Blood-Rumen Content Mixture
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3923/pjn.2013.929.933Keywords:
Carcass characteristics, nutrient digestibilityAbstract
A ten-week trial was conducted to assess the digestibility and carcass component of growing rabbits fed graded levels of Bovine Blood-rumen Content Mixtures (BBRCM). The BBRCM were included at 0, 10, 20, 30 and 40% levels in diets 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, respectively. The BBRCM replaced maize and groundnut cake in the diets. Forty five cross bred rabbits (Dutch x New Zealand white) between 5 and 7 weeks of age were randomly allocated to the 5 dietary treatments in group of 9 and allowed unlimited access to feed and drinking water throughout the experimental period. The dry matter, ether extract and ash were similar (P>0.05) among the treatments while the crude protein, crude fibre and nitrogen-free extract were significantly (P<0.05) different among the treatments. The carcass component and organ weights expressed as percentage of slaughter weight were similar except dressing percentage, shoulder, loin, feet and small intestine which were significantly (P<0.05) different among the treatments. Therefore, diets containing up to 40% BBRCM could be tolerated by growing rabbits without adverse effect on their nutrient digestibility and carcass component.
References
Abu, O.A. and T.E. Ekpenyong, 1993. Utilization of dried palm oil mill effluent by young growing rabbits. World Rabbit Sci., 1: 11-15.
Adeniji, A.A. and O.O. Balogun, 2001. Evaluation of blood-rumen content mixture in the diets of starter chicks. Niger. J. Anim. Prod., 28: 153-157.
Ajaji, A.F., G.O. Farinu, O.O. Ojebiya and T.B. Olayeni, 2007. Performance of male rabbits fed diets containing graded levels of blood-wild sunflower leaf meal mixture. World J. Agric. Sci., 3: 250-255.
Alawa, J.P. and N.N. Umunna, 1993. Alternative feed formulation in developing countries. Prospect for utilization of agro-industrial by-products. J. Anim. Prod. Res., 13: 69-98.
AOAC, 1980. Official Methods of Analysis of the Association of Official Analytical Chemists. 13th Edn., Association of Official Analytical Chemists, Washington, DC, United State, ISBN-13: 9780935584141, Pages: 1018.
Blasco, A., J. Ouhayoun and G. Masoero, 1993. Harmonization of criteria and terminology in rabbit meat research. World Rabbit Sci., 1: 3-10.
Cheeke, P.R., 1987. Rabbit Feeding and Nutrition. 4th Edn., Academic Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, ISBN: 978-0-12-170605-0, Pages: 376.
Cheeke, P.R., N.M. Patton and G.S. Templeton, 1982. Rabbit Production. 5th Edn., The Interstate Printers and Publisher Inc., Danville, IL., USA., ISBN-13: 9780813422220, Pages: 328.
Dairo, F.A.S., O.O. Aina and A.R. Asafa, 2005. Performance evaluation of growing rabbits feed varying levels of rumen content and blood rumen content mixture. Niger. J. Anim. Prod., 32: 67-72.
Duncan, D.B., 1955. Multiple range and multiple F tests. Biometrics, 11: 1-42.
FAO, 1991. Guidelines for slaughtering, meat cutting and further processing. FAO Animal Production and Health Paper No. 91, Food and Agriculture Organization, Rome Italy.
Igwebuike, J.U., N.K. Alade and H.D. Ainyi, 1995. Effect of feeding graded levels of sorghum waste on the performance and organ weights of growing rabbits. East Afr. Agric. For. J., 60: 193-200.
Ikurior, S.A. and E. Kayode, 1995. Influence of varying dietary full-fat soya bean on crude protein requirements of growing-finishing rabbits in sub-humid tropics. Proceedings of the 8th Annual Conference of the Nigerian Soybean Association, May 15-18, 1995, Makurdi, Nigeria.
Joseph, K.J., B. Awosanya and B.A. Adebua, 1994. The effects of preslaughter withholding of feed and water from rabbits on their carcass yield and meat quality. Niger. J. Anim. Prod., 21: 164-169.
Joseph, J.K., B. Awosanya and G.J. Olatangi, 1996. Increasing protein supply of the nation. J. Agric. Technol., 4: 17-20.
Mann, I., 1960. Meat handling in underdeveloped countries. FAO Agricultural Development Paper No. 70, Food and Agriculture Organization, Rome, Italy.
Mohammed, G., J.U. Igwebuike and I.D. Kwari, 2005. Performance of growing rabbits fed graded levels of goat rumen content. Global J. Pure Applied Sci., 11: 39-43.
Mohammed, G., J.U. Igwebuike and I.D. Kwari, 2005. Nutrient digestibility, haematological indices and carcass measurements of rabbits fed graded levels of goat rumen content. Global J. Agric. Sci., 4: 1-6.
Steel, R.G.D. and J.H. Torrie, 1980. Principles and Procedures of Statistics: A Biometrical Approach. 2nd Edn., McGraw Hill, New York, United States, ISBN-13: 9780070609266, Pages: 633.
Underwood, E.J., 1980. The Mineral Nutrition of Livestock. 2nd Edn., Commonwealth Agricultural Bureau, London, UK.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2013 Asian Network for Scientific Information
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
