ARTICLE INFO

ABSTRACT

Received date: 03/09/2015

Accepted date: 08/08/2016

This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of different dietary metabolizable energy (ME) levels on growth performance and nutrient digestibility of growing Californian rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus).  Sixty Californian rabbits at 45 days of age (500±12.9 g) were arranged in a completely randomized design with 5 treatments and 3 replications. Four rabbits including 2 males and 2 females were in one experimental unit. Five treatments were ME levels of 10.0; 10.5; 11.0; 11.5 và 12.0 MJ/kgDM, respectively. The apparent nutrient digestibility and nitrogen retention were evaluated on the rabbits at 12 weeks of age in 7 days. The results showed that dry matter (DM) intakes were not significantly different (P>0.05) among treatments ranging from 69.4 to 74.5 g/rabbit/day. The digestible DM and crude protein (CP) were not significantly different (P>0.05) among treatments being 38.3-44.0 and 8.45-9.95 g/day, respectively. The daily weight gain was significantly different (P<0.05) among treatments. They were 20.5, 22.4, 22.9, 24.5 and 23.9 g for the ME10.0, ME10.5, ME11.0, ME11.5 and ME12.0, respectively. The carcass, lean meat and thigh meat weights were significantly different (P<0.05) among treatments with the highest values at the ME11.5 treatment (1.374, 1.049 and 412 g, respectively). It could be concluded that the dietary ME of 11.5 MJ/kgDM should be used to feed Californian rabbits for improving growth, carcass quality and economic return

KEYWORDS

Californian rabbit, metabolizable energy, growth rate, digestible nutrient

Cited as: Trung, T.T., Dong, N.T.K. and Thu, N.V, 2016. A response of feed utilization, nutrient digestibility, growth and carcass value of californian rabbits to die-tary metabolizable energy. Can Tho University Journal of Science. Vol 3: 25-31.