PERFORMANCE AND CARCASS CHARACTERISTICS OF WEANER RABBITS FED WITH VARYING LEVELS OF SUN-DRIED SHEEP RUMEN CONTENTS AS A REPLACEMENT FOR MILLET OFFAL

Résumé

The research was conducted to evaluate the performance and carcass characteristics of weaner rabbits fed with varying levels of sun-dried sheep rumen contents (SDSRC) as replacement millet offal (MO). Fifty weaner mongrel rabbits of mixed sexes between 5 and 7 weeks of age were allotted to five dietary treatments replicated five times with two rabbits per replicate in a completely randomized design with SDSRC replacing MO at 0, 25, 50, 75 and 100% designated as diet 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 respectively. Total, final, daily weight gains and feed conversion ratio were significantly influenced by treatment effects and all other growth performance parameters were similar. Live and carcass weight varied between 990.67-1580.00g and 737.00-1184.67g and were also affected (P<0.05). Pelt, head/legs, kidney and large intestine depicts significant difference among the diets. It can be deduced from the study, that SDSRC could replace MO at 75% level without placating performance and carcass attributes of growing rabbits. It was therefore recommended that rabbits keepers should incorporate when formulating diets in order to reduce cost of production.