Forage cactus (Opuntia ficus-indica Mill) meal in rabbit diets in the growth phase

Ana Patricia Almeida BEZERRA,Kivia Alessandra Gouveia da SILVA,Mariany de Souza BRITO,Leonardo Augusto Fonseca PASCOAL,Jordanio Fernandes da SILVA,José Mares Felix BRITO,Jonathan Mádson dos Santos ALMEIDA,Paulo Rodrigues DANTAS JUNIOR,David Rwbystanne Pereira da SILVA,Pedro Henrique WATANABE

doi:10.1590/s1519-99402121102020

Abstract

ABSTRACT Two experimental tests were carried out to evaluate the inclusion of forage cactus meal in diets for rabbits during the growth phase. In the first test 14 male New Zealand red rabbits were used, housed in metal cages, and distributed in a completely randomly design with two treatments and seven replicates with one animal per experimental unit. The digestibility of the nutrients and the digestible energy of the forage cactus meal were determined by the total feces collection method. The forage cactus meal presented 92.24% of DM, 5.63% of CP and 2,347 kcal of DE/kg. In the second test the inclusion of 0, 10, 20 and 30% forage cactus meal in the rabbit diet was tested for productive performance, carcass characteristics, viscera and economic viability. Thus, 40 male rabbits of the New Zealand red breed were used, distributed in metal cages, completely random designed with four treatments, five replicates and two animals per experimental unit. No influence of inclusion levels (P>0.05) on performance variables, housing characteristics or economic viability was observed. The forage cactus meal can be included in up to 30% in the diets of growing rabbits.

Highlights

Rabbits in the growing phase represent 60% of the herd on a wedge farm
Experiment I The nutritional composition values obtained for the forage cactus meal indicate that it has high fiber content, even so it presented high digestibility coefficients of dry and organic matter (92.48 and 91.92%, respectively), which can be related to forage cactus presenting a high content of soluble fibers and possibly due to the high fermentability of these compounds (Table 4)
Syomiti et al (2014) evaluated the chemical composition of the forage cactus in different parts of the plant according to the cladode maturity stage, finding that nutritional values vary according to the part and degree of maturity, indicating that nutritional value varies according to maturity

Summary

Introduction

There is a need to use more expensive ingredients such as cereals such as soybean meal and corn due to the nutritional and energy demand of the animals in this phase. The forage cactus is a plant adapted to the climatic conditions of the semiarid region due to its morphophysiological characteristics (Neto et al, 2013). It is a species which has a remarkable energy level regarding its nutritional composition, with an average content of approximately 62% of non-fibrous carbohydrates and total digestible nutrients (Wanderley et al, 2002; Melo et al, 2003). It contains levels considered low for neutral detergent fiber (26%), dry matter (12%) and crude protein (4.7%)

Objectives

Methods

Results