Performance Of Weaner Rabbits Fed Maize Husk Based Diets With And Without Enzyme Supplementation

Two experiments were conducted to assess the impact of maize husk-based diets on weaner rabbits, with and without enzyme supplementation.

In the first experiment, thirty-six weaner rabbits were allocated to six treatments, where maize husk replaced rice offal at inclusion levels of 0%, 4%, 8%, 12%, 16%, and 20%. Each treatment included six rabbits, and each rabbit served as a replicate in a completely randomized design.

In the second experiment, twenty-four weaner rabbits were used in a similar randomized design with diets containing 20% maize husk. The treatments included enzyme supplementation at levels of 0.00%, 0.02%, 0.03%, and 0.04%.

Results indicated that maize husk significantly influenced (P<0.05) final body weight, average daily weight gain, feed conversion ratio, and feed cost per kg gain. However, packed cell volume (PCV) and haemoglobin level (Hb) were not significantly affected (P>0.05). Total protein (TP) levels were significantly affected by dietary maize husk.

Increasing levels of maize husk led to significant decreases (P<0.05) in crude protein, crude fibre, ether extract, and nitrogen-free extract. Similarly, parameters such as thigh, skin, dressing percentage, slaughter weight, and dressed weight significantly (P<0.05) declined with higher levels of maize husk in the diet.

Among all parameters studied, rabbits fed diets containing 4% maize husk generally performed best, while those fed 20% maize husk showed the poorest results.

In the second experiment, rabbits fed diets supplemented with 0.02% enzyme exhibited superior performance in terms of average daily weight gain, feed conversion ratio, feed cost per kg weight gain, nutrient digestibility, and carcass evaluation. Performance tended to decrease with higher levels of enzyme supplementation.

Conclusively, weaner rabbits tolerated up to 4% maize husk in their diets effectively. However, inclusion levels could be increased up to 20% if supplemented with 0.02% enzyme to optimize performance