Effect of type of basal diet and rate of inclusion on the evaluation of protein concentrates with rabbits

Abstract

ABSTRACTOne hundred and eight New Zealand × Californian growing rabbits (nine per diet) were used to determine the nutritive value (digestible energy (DE), digestible protein (DCP) and digestible acid-detergent fibre (DADF)) of five protein concentrates. In assay 1, the effect of the type of basal diet (BD) (7·6 or 10·0 MJ DE per kg dry matter (DM) for BD1 and BD2 respectively) and the substitution level (150, 300 and 450 g/kg) on nutritive value of soya-bean meal was studied. According to the results of assay 1, one basal diet (BD2) and one substitution level (300 g/kg for sunflower 380, gluten meal and extruded soya-bean meal or 500 g/kg for sunflower 320) were selected in assay 2 to determine their nutritive value.The effect of the basal diet and the substitution level on the nutritive value of soya-bean meal was evident only for the values calculated from BD1 and the lowest level of inclusion. The data obtained by difference at the highest level of inclusion and by extrapolating the linear equations were very similar (16·32 v. 16·35 MJ DE and 387·62 v. 388.58 g DCP per kg DM for BD2), but the standard errors were lower (0·52 v. 0·72 for DE and 6.76 v. 8.95 for DCP) in the former. The DE values obtained for sunflower meal 320 and 380, extruded soya-bean and gluten meal were 10·29, 14·37, 18·58 and 20·57 MJ/kg DM respectively; protein digestibilities were high (with coefficients from 0·80 to 0·90) except in the case of sunflower-320 (0·73). A stepwise regression analysis was made to predict the nutritive value from chemical composition including values from literature. For prediction of DE, the variables selected were: crude fibre, ether extract and ash, obtaining a determination coefficient of 0·935. The protein digestibility was independent of variables employed.