Authors : B.I. Okon , A.A. Ayuk and I.N. Ukpong
Abstract: Twenty crossbred (Chinchilla and New Zealand white) rabbits, aged 7-8 weeks made up of 4 males and 16 females with initial weight of 22.5kg were used to assess the effect of different levels of maize sievate inclusion on their feed intake and growth performance. The rabbits were randomly allotted to 5 treatment groups of 4 rabbits per treatment. The treatments were replicated twice with each replicate having 2 rabbits. The rabbits were fed diets containing 0, 25, 50, 75 and 100% maize sievate in treatments I, II, III, IV and V, respectively. The chemical composition of the test ingredient was investigated prior to its use in the diets. Data were collected on daily feed intake, daily water intake, average weekly body weight, average weekly body weight gain, feed efficiency and feed conversion ratio. There were no significant (p>0.05) differences in the above mentioned parameters. However, cost of control diet was highest while that of 100% maize sievate was least, feed cost per unit gain was also highest for the rabbits on 0% maize sievate (control). Results suggest that 100% replacement level of maize as an energy source with maize sievate appears to support performance in rabbit production comparable to maize.
B.I. Okon , A.A. Ayuk and I.N. Ukpong , 2007. Performance Characteristics of Rabbits Fed Maize Sievate Based Diets . Agricultural Journal, 2: 651-653.