EFFECTS OF FEEDING VARYING LEVELS OF MELON (Citrullus vulgaris) SEED HUSKS MEAL SUPPLEMENTED WITH MAXIGRAIN ON PERFORMANCE OF FEMALE GROWING RABBITS (Oryctolagus cuniculus)

Abstract

The experiment was conducted using 45 female growing rabbits with an average initial live weight of 927.78-943.33 g for a period of 91 days to study the effect of varying levels of melon seed husk (MSH) meal supplemented with or without multi-enzyme (MAXIGRAIN) on the performance of the rabbits. Rabbits were randomly distributed into five treatments, each one contains nine rabbits. Three levels of lon seed husks and two levels of enzymes preparation were used. Melon seed husks were used at levels of 0 (control), 10 and 20 % of diets. MAXIGRAINR enzyme containing cellulase, xylase, beta-glucanase and phytase was added at 0 and 0.1 % of diets. The dietary treatments were T1-0 % MSH & 0% MAXIGRAIN (control), T2 10 % MSH & 0 % MAXIGRAIN, T3 - 20 % MSH & 0 % MAXIGRAIN, T4-10 % MSH & 0.1 % MAXIGRAIN,T5-20 % MSH & 0.1 % MAXIGRAIN®. The daily live weight gain for rabbits fed diets T1,T2, T3, T4 and T5 were 8.00, 7.88, 7.72,8.50 and 7.94 g respectively and the differences among the dietary groups were not significant (P>0.05) but it numerically increased by 0.5 % in T4 as compared to control (T1). The feed conversion ratio of different dietary groups did not differ significantly (P>0.05). However, 8.28, 8.92, 9.84, 7.58 and 8.22 were observed for T1, T2, T3, T4 and T5 respectively. Conclusively, the results from this study showed that the use of melon seed husks in replacement of maize can be successfully fed at 10 % of growing rabbits diet supplemented with MAXIGRAINR enzyme without adverse or deleterious effect on performance.