Performance of growing rabbit bucks and does fed diets supplemented with brewers dried grains

Abstract

The study was conducted to at the rabbitry unit of the National Animal Production Research Institute/Ahmadu Bello University, Shika-Zaria to evaluate the performance of growing rabbit bucks and does fed diets supplemented with brewers dried grain (BDG). Forty rabbits growing rabbits aged between 6 to 7 weeks of age, with initial average weight of 0.75Kg were randomly assigned to four dietary treatments (0%, 20%, 30% and 40% BDG) in a completely randomized design (CRD) with five rabbits in each treatment. The experimental diet and clean drinking water were supplied ad libtum during the experiment, which lasted for a period of 8 weeks. The following growth parameters were measured included, daily feed intake and weight changes, initial weight, final weight, total weight gain, average daily gain and feed conversion ratio. Data generated was subjected to statistical analysis of SAS. In growing rabbit bucks, initial weight, average daily feed intake, final weight and average daily gain showed no significant difference (P > 0.05). Feed conversion ratio was significantly differences (P < 0.05) with the control having the best feed efficiency while 20% level of inclusion had the least value. For the does, there were no significant differences (P>0.05) in initial weight and average daily feed intake. There were significant differences (P<0.05) in final weight, average daily gain and feed conversion ratio. Final weight and average daily gain had a similar pattern with the control (0%) and treatment 2 recording the highest and lowest values respectively. Feed conversion ratio had different pattern as treatments 2 (20%), 3 (30%) and 4 (40%) were significantly higher than the control. It can be concluded that, inclusion of BDG in the diet of growing rabbits have no effect on growth performance but if efficiently utilized.