EFFECT OF FEEDING DIFFERENT LEVELS OF WATER HYACINTH ON PERFORMANCE OF GROWING RABBITS

Document Type : Original Article

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Department of Animal Production, Faculty of Agriculture, Banha University, Egypt.

Abstract

This experiment was carried out at a private rabbit farm under supervision of Banha University Animal Feed Professors duration time from May to July 2014 on 48New Zealand white young male rabbits at 6 weeks of age and about 675 to 717 grams live body weight were divided into four groups (each group contains 12 male rabbits and three replicates) to investigate the effect of feeding different levels of dried water hyacinth leaves and stems (0, 25, 50, 75% of Egyptian clover Hay) on rabbits growth and digestibility during 8 weeks of experiment. The results showed non-significant effects on rabbits live body weight and feed intake during 8 weeks of experiment for different levels of water hyacinth. Best final body weight in control group followed by second group, third group and first group of rabbits were 2045, 2008, 1938 and 1896 grams, respectively. Rabbits average daily weight gain, feed conversion and economical feed efficiency during all experiment duration showed a significant (P‹0.05) different between feeding groups. Highly daily gain in control group followed by second group, third group and first group of rabbits were 24.62, 23.08, 22.13 and 20.56 grams, respectively. Rabbits of the second feeding group (feeding 25% water hyacinth) gave the significant worst average feed conversion (3.56 feed/gain), while control group recorded the best one (3.06 feed/gain).  Present results conclude that, dried water hyacinth leaves and stems may be used as a feed for rabbits to replace 50% water hyacinth of clover hay in concentrate feed mixture without negative effect on rabbits growth, feed conversion, economic efficiency and digestibility.

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