Analysis of Russian and foreign research on rabbits feeding (review)

Abstract

Rabbit farming being a well-developed and highly profi table area of livestock farming is one of the indicators of the state of economic development of the country. In Russia despite the fact that 78,5 % of rabbit meat is produced on household farms industrial rabbit breeding is gaining momentum. The basis of any area of animal husbandry is the organization of feeding, since feeding costs account for 60–70 % of the cost of production, and more than 90 % of animal diseases are associated with errors in their feeding. At the end of 2020 rabbit meat production in Russia amounted to 19,6 thousand tons. Total for the period 2016–2020 rabbit meat production increased by 8 %. Scientists from different countries pay special attention to studying the nutritional and energy needs of replacement young animals, pregnant and lactating doe rabbits, since the reproduction process and the volume of production depend on them. The results of scientifi c research on feeding doe rabbits during the reproductive period with complete granulated feed with diff erent ratios of nutrients and energy have been analyzed in the review. The authors note that the content of digestible energy and protein in the diets used to feed pregnant doe rabbits in Russian and foreign studies are the same, while the fiber content differs significantly. Since researchers around the world are concerned about the same problems of optimizing the feeding of doe rabbits, a joint discussion of research results especially by scientists belonging to different scientific schools opens up new horizons for achieving purposes and practical use of the new knowledge obtained.