EFFECT OF FEEDING REGIME ON THE GROWTH OF HYBRID RABBITS

Three diets were tested for weight gain in hybrid rabbits. The concentrate diet the concentrate plus forage diet and the forage-only diet were tested in this work with the hypothesis that the concentrate diet would result in higher growth rates in the rabbits. To achieve this it was useful to breed the rabbits. This involved crossing 10 local females with a phenotypically Californian male from which 36 young rabbits were obtained forming the sample for this study. Weaned 6 weeks after birth the rabbits were grouped according to sex and fed different diets. Each diet was fed to a batch of 12 subjects 6 males and 6 females. To reduce competition the animals were housed in groups of 3 per cage. At the end of the study it was found that the concentrate-fed animals showed the highest weight gain with an average of 1282.9 g more than the mixed diet (1210g) and forage (1015g).