EFFECT OF FEEDING OLIVE CAKE SUPPLEMENTED WITH OR WITHOUT BENTONITE ON PERFORMANCE OF GROWING RABBITS

Abstract

This study carried out to determine the effects of substitution with 30 and 60% of olive cake instead of dietary clover hay in the diet without or with bentonite at levels of 0.5 or 1%on growing rabbit performance. Eighty-four weaning New Zealand White (NZW) rabbits about 6 weeks old and 789 ± 37.59g average live body weight were randomly assigned to seven groups, each with three replicates (of 4 rabbits) in a growth trail lasted for 8 weeks. Experimental diets were as follows: diet 1: A control without olive cake, diets 2, 3 and 4: 30% of clover hay was replaced with olive cake and diets were supplemented with zero, 0.5 and 1% bentonite respectively, diets 5, 6 and 7: 60% of clover hay was replaced with olive cake and diets were supplemented with zero, 0.5 and 1% bentonite, respectively. Results could be summarized as follows: 1- Feeding rabbits on diets with 30% olive cake plus 1% bentonite significantly resulted in the best final body weight, daily weight gain, feed conversion ratio, dressing %, ether extract digestibility coefficient, nitrogen balance and DE also it gave the highest relative economic efficiency. However, feed intake, digestibility coefficients of DM, OM, CP, CF and nutritive value in terms of TDN and DCP were not significantly affected by the different treatments. 2- Feeding rabbits on diets with 30% olive cake plus 1% bentonite significantly resulted in the best total volatile fatty acids concentration. However, ammonia concentration was not significantly affected by the different treatments. 3- Data showed significantly increased in globulin with 30% olive cake with or without bentonite. However, there were significantly decrease in the value of plasma cholesterol and total lipids for rabbits fed on diets 30% olive cake plus 0.5 and 1%. Conclusively, it could be recommended to incorporate olive cake with nucleus at the rate of 30%of the rabbit diets to replace clover hay provided that supplementing the diet with 1% bentonite to improve the performance and economic return of the rabbit production.