Asian Journal of Animal Sciences

Volume 16 (3), 73-83, 2022


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Effects of Andropogon gayanus and Centrosema Pubescens Leaf Meal Diets on Crossbred Rabbits

O.O. Ekwe, O.C. Onwudike and C.C. Nwali

Background and Objective: The soaring food prices have triggered and increased hunger worldwide followed by the acute shortage of protein especially that of animal origin. This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of feeding graded levels of Andropogon gayanus (Ag) and Centrosema pubescens (Cp) leaf meal diets on the growth performance, volatile fatty acid concentration and caeca microbial population of crossbred (New Zealand white ♀ X Chinchilla black ♂) rabbits. Materials and Methods: Twenty four crossbred weaned rabbits were used for 63 day feeding trial. The rabbits were randomly assigned to four dietary treatments in a Completely Randomized Design (CRD). There were six rabbits per treatment. Each treatment was replicated 3 times with 2 rabbits per replicate. T1 (control) contained 0% Ag and Cp leaf meals. The T2, T3 and T4 contained 5, 10 and 15% each of Ag and Cp leaf meals, respectively. Data such as feed intake, weight gain, feed conversion ratio, protein intake and protein efficiency ratio, caeca volatile fatty acid concentration and caeca microbial population were generated. The feed cost-benefit analysis was performed on the following: Feed cost/kg weight gain, the total cost of production and net returns. Data generated were subjected to statistical analysis using One-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). Mean values were separated using least significant difference (LSD). Results: Results showed no significant (p>0.05) differences in all the growth performance parameters except the final body weight. The result of the feed cost analysis showed that feed cost per kg weight gain decreased as the inclusion levels of Ag and Cp leaf meals increased. The total revenue and net returns increased with increasing levels of dietary inclusion of Ag and Cp leaf meals. Conclusion: It was observed that diet can affect the bacterial population of the hind gut of rabbits. The inclusion of a 15% level each of Ag and Cp leaf meals is adequate for grower rabbits without any adverse effect.

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How to cite this article:

O.O. Ekwe, O.C. Onwudike and C.C. Nwali, 2022. Effects of Andropogon gayanus and Centrosema Pubescens Leaf Meal Diets on Crossbred Rabbits. Asian Journal of Animal Sciences, 16: 73-83.


DOI: 10.3923/ajas.2022.73.83
URL: https://ansinet.com/abstract.php?doi=ajas.2022.73.83

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