Carcass characteristics of male New Zealand white rabbits fed complete pellet containing different levels of leucaena leaf meal

Abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate the growth performances and carcass characteristics of male New Zealand White rabbits, offered complete feed pellets containing different levels of leucaena leaf meal (LLM). Twenty rabbits (2.0-2.5 months old, 600-1000 g of weight) were divided into four groups, and fed pelleted diets containing 0% LLM (P0), 5% LLM (P1), 10% LLM (P2) and 15% LLM (P3). The feeding trial lasted 10 weeks. The crude proteins (CP) of the diets were 17.7-18.1% and energy ranged 2,277-2,542 kcal/kg. The feed ingredient of the pellets consisted of corn, pollard, Pennisetum purpureum cv. Mott, molasses, soybean meal, LLM, copra cake, tapioca flour, and premix. Feed was offered twice daily and water given ad libitum. After 10 weeks they were slaughtered and slaughter weight (SW), carcass and non-carcass percentage, and meat bone ratio (MBR) were determined. Data were analyzed based on a completely randomized design. The SW (2.23 ± 0.24 kg), carcass percentage (48.01 ± 5.41%), non-carcass percentage (51.99 ± 5.41%), and MBR (2.74 ± 0.53) were highest (P<0.05) in rabbits fed 10% LLM compared to those fed the other diets. It was concluded that inclusion of LLM at 10% level resulted in the highest slaughter weight, carcass percentage, non-carcass percentage and meat bone ration compared to the other treatments. Inclusion level higher than 10% resulted in a reduction in these parameters but not significantly different from that of the controls.