Effect of concentrate levels on the production performance of Chinchilla rabbits

Abstract

Experiment was conducted to assess the effect of feeding different levels of concentrate on the production performance of broiler rabbits. Rabbits (83) were divided in 3 groups and were offered concentrate pellets @ 50g (T,), 80g (T,) and ad lib. (T,) respectively. The effect of level of concentrate feeding was significant (P&lt0.05) on growth, plane of nutrition and digestibility of nutrients. The gain/day was highest (27.6± 0.5 g) in ad lib. fed groups and the differences were significant (P&ltO.05) when conpared with 50 g fed group and nonsignificant with 80g concentrate group. Significant (P&lt05) differences were observed for concentrate and total dry matter intake per day in different groups, with highest value ( 113.3 ± 11.3g and 154.5 ± 15.4g) in T, and lowest value (42.2 ± 2.8g and 80.7 ± 3.6g) in T, group. However, nonsignificant effcct of concentrate feeding was observed on roughage intake. Feed: gain was best (3.15) in 50 g fed group and deteriorated with increasing level of concentrate supplementation. No significant effect of concentrate feeding could be observed on carcass and gastrointestinal attributes. Digestibility of crude fibre and cellulose was affected by concentrate feeding with highest value (40.4 ± 2.4 and 49.3 ± 2.9%) in 50g fed group and lowest value (29.9 ± 4.1 and 42.7 ± 1.0%) in ad lib. concentrate fed group. Cost of production per kg live weight was lowest (Rs 26.74) in 50g fed group and increased with increasing level of concentrate supplementation. Frvrn this experiment it is concluded that for economical broiler rabbit production the kits must not be fed more than 50g of concentrate per day along with quality green fodder.