GROWTH PERFORMANCE AND CARCASS CHARACTERISTICS AND ORGANS PERCENTAGE OF WEANER RABBITS (Oryctolagus cunniculus) FED DIETS CONTAINING GRADED LEVELS OF AFRICAN WILD GRAPE (Lannea microcarpa) LEAF MEAL
Abstract
A feeding trial for 70 days was conducted to evaluate Growth performance and carcass characteristics of weaner rabbits. Five diets were formulated, comprising treatment 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 at 0%, 5%, 10%, 15% and 20% inclusion levels of African wild grape leaf meal, respectively. Sixty (60) Mongrel weaner bucks’ weighing 750 g ± 50 g were randomly allotted into five different treatments consisting four rabbits per replicate and twelve per treatment in a Completely Randomized Design (CRD). Data generated were subjected to the analysis of variance (ANOVA) with Duncan Multiple Range Test to compare the means. Results showed that the growth performance of the weaner rabbits were not significantly (P>0.05) affected among the treatments, except for the final body weight and daily feed intake. The carcass results shows that there were significant (P< 0.05) differences between the treatments in terms of live weight, bladed weight, hind limbs, liver, lungs, loin, ribs, neck, and weight of kidney, caecum and large intestine. African wild grape leaf is found to improved meat quality up to 20% without affecting meat quality.
Keywords:
African wild grape, Weaner rabbit, Growth, Carcass, OrgansPublished
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