Performance of Nutrient Digestibility of weaned rabbits fed forages supplemented with concentrate

Abstract

An experiment was made to examine the effect of feeding three forages (Pacicum maximum) pawpaw leaves and (Tridax procumbens) in addition to concentrateon the performance and nutrient digestibility of crossbred weaned rabbits. Four rabbits were assigned to each dietary treatment in a completely randomized arrangement. The study lasted for 8 weeks. the forage and concentrate had moderate to high crude protein contents (12 to 33%). The DM intake were very high P. maximum and T. procumbens treatment (av. 108g/day). Forage constituted about 75% of the intakes. Dry matter intake on pawpaw leaves treatment (47.31g/day)was the weight gain (10.94g'day) and feed converion ratio (4.3) were best on the pawpoaw leaves the treatment. Tridax procumbens had the highest nutrient digestibility and significant difference (P<0.05) exist on the most of them. Three forages can be used in feeding rabbits when supplemented with concentrate at 2% of the body weight. However, pawpaw leaves gave the best feeding value