Performance of growing rabbits fed diets containing fermented and unfermented cassava leaf: peel meal mix as replacement for maize
2014
Sogunle, O.M. | Adesanya, P.A. | Egbeyale, L.T. | Adeyemi,O.A. | Eniolorunda, O.O. | Njoku, C.P.
The effects of feeding diets containing fermented and unfermented combinations of cassava leaf meal and peel meal mix (CLM-PM) on performance and carcass characteristics of growing rabbits were investigated in a derived savannah vegetation zone of South West Nigeria. Fifty 6-week old growing rabbits of mixed breed (New Zealand White x Chinchila) and sexes with an average weight range of 600-610 g were randomly distributed into five groups to assess five treatment diets: Diet A (Control) 50% maize, Diet B 25% and Diet C 50% replacement of dietary maize with unfermented cassava leaf meal and peel meal mix (UCLM-PM) and Diet D 25% and Diet E 50% replacement of dietary maize with fermented cassava leaf meal and peel meal mix (FCLM-PM in a completely randomized design. The rabbits were individually caged. The trial lasted for 56 d after which the rabbits were starved overnight and slaughtered. Performance data indicated that body weight gain and feed to gain ratio were significantly higher (P<0.05) for FCLM-PM compared with UCLM-PM. A similar trend was observed for digestibility and carcass attributes. Dietary treatments however did not influence (P>0.05) liver and kidney weights. Diet D showed consistent superior performance in dressing out percentage, primal cuts of fore and hind parts compared to the control and other dietary treatments. The superiority of Diet D was further emphasized as the cost of producing a kg of rabbit using the diet was 16.88% lower compared to Diet A. It was therefore concluded that replacement of 25% of dietary maize content of rabbit diet with fermented cassava leaf meal and peel meal mix can result in superior performance over the control diet.
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