Effect of Feeding Graded Levels of Carrot Tops Hay on Growth Performance of New Zealand White Rabbits | ||||
| Journal of Animal and Poultry Production | ||||
| Article 6, Volume 9, Issue 7, July 2018, Page 331-336 PDF (365.56 K) | ||||
| Document Type: Original Article | ||||
| DOI: 10.21608/jappmu.2018.41124 | ||||
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| Authors | ||||
| Kh. Sherif1; M. H. Rabie1; A. I. Bedair2 | ||||
| 1Poultry Production Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Mansoura University. | ||||
| 2Poultry Production Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Mansoura University | ||||
| Abstract | ||||
| This experiment was designed to assess the possibility of using graded levels of carrot tops hay (CTH) in rabbit diets and its effect on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, carcass traits, economic efficiency and certain blood constituents. Sixty 6-week-old New Zealand White rabbits were randomly divided into 5 equal experimental groups, each with four equal replications and kept in cages in an open-sided rabbitry. Five experimental diets containing different levels (0.0, 10, 20, 30and 40%) of CTH were formulated and used from6 to14 weeks of age. The experimental animals were fed their experimental diets and clean drinking water ad libitum. The criteria of response (body weight, feed consumption, weight gain and efficiency of feed utilization) were estimated weekly on a replicate group basis. During the last week of study, five digestion trials were performed to estimate the nutrient digestibility of the experimental diets. When the rabbits were 14 weeks of age, 5 rabbits from each treatment were randomly selected and fasted for 18 hours before slaughtering. Carcass yield, giblets (liver, heart and kidneys) and total edible parts were estimated relative to LBW at slaughter. Some blood plasma parameters were also determined. The obtained results can be summarized as follows: Dietary inclusion of CTH up to 30% had no adverse effect on all criteria of growth performance of 14-week-old rabbits. However, rabbits fed diet containing 40% CTH had significantly lower final body weight and total gain compared with other experimental treatments. Dietary treatments had no significant effect on total feed intake or efficiency of feed utilization. Rabbits fed diets containing different levels of CTH achieved significantly better economic efficiency of feeding (EEF) compared with those fed on the control diet, the highest mean of EEF was achieved by rabbits received the 30% CTH-diet. There were significant differences in digestibility of dry matter (DM), organic matter (OM) and ether extract (EE) among the experimental treatments, Inclusion of CTH at 40% significantly depressed the digestibility of DM, OM and EE compared with other treatments. Feeding diets containing the CTH up to 30% did not negatively affect digestibility of nutrients. Dietary treatments did not significantly affect carcass traits (carcass yield, giblets and total edible parts ) or blood measurements. We can conclude that carrot tops hay can safely be used in growing rabbit diets up to 30% without any adverse effect on their performance or carcass traits. | ||||
| Keywords | ||||
| Carrot tops hay; Growth performance; Rabbits | ||||
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