EFFECT OF FEED RESTRICTION ON PRODUCTIVE PERFORMANCE, CARCASS YIELD, BLOOD PICTURES AND RELATIVE ORGAN WEIGHTS OF GROWING RABBITS | ||||
| Egyptian Poultry Science Journal | ||||
| Article 1, Volume 35, Issue 2, June 2015, Page 439-454 | ||||
| Document Type: Original Article | ||||
| DOI: 10.21608/epsj.2015.5372 | ||||
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| Abstract | ||||
| Eighty weaning V-line rabbit’s males aged 33days were used to study the effect of feeding restriction on productive performance of fattening rabbits. Rabbits were individually housed in galvanized wire cages and randomly allotted to four experimental groups (20 males per each), with initial average weight 635±12.25g. First rabbits group fed ad libitum commercial diet and served as control (C), second group (R1)fed restricted diet from the fifth to the sixth weeks of age (50 g /d /rabbit), third group (R2) fed restricted diet from eighth to ninth week of age (90 g/d/ rabbit) and the fourth group (R3) fed restricted diets from fifth to the sixth weeks of age (50 g /d/ rabbit) and from eighth to ninth weeks of age (90 g/d /rabbit) .Rabbits fed ad libitum at all other times of experiment. At the end of the experiment (84 days of age), five rabbits from each group were slaughtered to study carcass quality and some biochemical blood parameters. Results indicated that body weight gain (BWG) for experimental restricted groups R1 and R2 (fed restricted diet for one week, short period) were statistically equal and insignificantly (P ≤ 0.05) different compared with rabbit fed ad libitum (the control group, C). However, restricted group R3 (fed restricted diet during the fifth to the sixth / eighth to ninth weeks (long period) recorded the lowest significant BWG compared with the other experimental groups. Feed intake and daily feed intake for R3 group recorded the lowest significantly amount of feed intake by 16.9 % compared with the control group. Moreover, feed conversion (FCR) and mortality rates were significantly improved for rabbit groups exposed to feed restriction. Carcass and dressing percentages were significantly lowers (P≤0.05) for long period restriction (R3) compared with those for control (C) and for short periods restriction (R1 and R2). | ||||
| Keywords | ||||
| growing rabbit; feed restriction; Blood; Growth and Carcass | ||||
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