OLIVE CAKE OR DATE STONE IN RATIONS OF NEW ZEALAND WHITE RABBITS:-1- THE EFFECT ON GROWTH PERFORMANCE, SOME PHYSIOLOGICAL PARAMETERS AND CARCASS TRAITS

AbdElShafie, Amira A.; Ghoneim, Samir I.; ElAzzazi, Fakhry E.; Khalifa, Reda M.E.

doi:10.21608/sinjas.2014.78458

OLIVE CAKE OR DATE STONE IN RATIONS OF NEW ZEALAND WHITE RABBITS:-1- THE EFFECT ON GROWTH PERFORMANCE, SOME PHYSIOLOGICAL PARAMETERS AND CARCASS TRAITS

Authors

¹ Dept. Anim. and Poul. Prod., Fac. Environ. Agric. Sci., Suez Canal Univ., Arish, Egypt.

² Dept. Food and Dairy Technol., Fac. Environ. Agric. Sci., Suez Canal Univ., Arish, Egypt.

³ Dept. Anim. Prod. & Fish Wealth, Fac. Agric., Suez Canal Univ., Ismailia, Egypt.

10.21608/sinjas.2014.78458

Abstract

There is wide gap between the available feedstuffs and the requirements of animal feeding in Egypt and especially in Sinai. The present study was carried out to investigate the effect of feeding agro-industrial by-products like olive cake (OC) or crushed date stone (DS), as partial replacement of ratio yellow corn, on growth performances, carcass traits and some physiological status of New Zealand White rabbits (NZW). Thirty growing NZW weighed about 465g were divided into three similar and equal groups, six males and four females each. The 1^st group was fed on commercial diet as control (C);2^nd and 3^rd group was fed on 6.25% OC or 6.25% DS. At the end of experiment (after 12 weeks) 3 males and 4 females were slaughtered to study the carcass traits and blood constituents. The results concluded that feeding NZW on diet containing 6.25% OC or SD has beneficial effects. The final body weight averaged 2.14, 2.49 and 2.44 kg. in C, OC and DS groups, respectively. The corresponding values of daily body gain averaged 18.3, 22.1 and21.6 g. Feed conversion (feed intake/ body gain) averaged 4.7, 4.2 and 3.9. Moreover, these substitutions hadn’t any bad effects on peripheral signs of health (rectal temperature or respiration rate) or internal signs, kidney, liver, adrenal, thyroid functions or blood characteristics of NZW rabbit. Furthermore, there was an improvement in dressing percentage and total edible meat. The percentages of carcass weight and total edible parts averaged 48.6 and 57.9 respectively, in C group, 53.9 and 62.8 in OC group, 51.1 and 60.8 % in DS group.

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