Effects of diets containing asyastasia gangetica and brachiaria decumbens on intake, digestibility and growth performance of growing rabbits

Abstract

The beneficial effects of feeding rabbits with forages have been recommended. However, limited study has been made on feeding values of locally available forages in rabbits. Therefore, an experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of Asyastasia gangetica and Brachiaria decunbens on intake, digestibility, and growth performance of rabbits. Twelve rabbits were distributed into three diets: (i) 100% commercial pellet as control (T1), (ii) 50% pellet plus Asyastasia gangetica ad libitum (T2), and (iii) 50% pellet plus Brachiaria decumbens ad libitum (T3). Daily feed intake, nutrient digestibility, weekly body weight, and feed conversion ratio (FCR) were measured. Intakes of total dry matter (DM) (121.2-134.3 g/d) and organic matter (OM) (115.1-132.5 g/d) were similar (p>0.05) for all the groups. The crude protein (CP) intake of rabbits fed with T1 (10.1 g/d) and T3 (9.6 g/d) diets was similar (p>0.05), but lower (p<0.05) than T2 (14.1 g/d) diet. Ether extract intake of rabbits fed with T2 (2.9 g/d) and T3 (3.9 g/d) diets was similar (p>0.05), but lower (p<0.05) than T1 (5.1 g/d) diet. Neutral detergent fibre (NDF) intake was higher (p<0.05) for rabbits fed with T3 (55.8 g/d) diet followed by T2 (41.7 g/d) and T1 (31.7 g/d) diets. There were no differences (p>0.05) on the digestibilities of DM, OM, and CP among treatments. Total weight gain and daily weight gain were higher (p<0.05) for rabbits fed with T1 (568 and 11.0 g) and T2 (468 and 9.0 g) diets than T3 (155 and 3.3 g) diet, respectively. The lowest FCR was obtained with T1 (12.3) and T2 (13.9) diets, whereas the highest was obtained with T3 (30.3) diet. In conclusion, diet containing Asyastasia gangetica showed more benefits in terms of CP and NDF intakes, weight gain and FCR than the diet containing Brachiaria decumbens. A combination of concentrate and Asyastasia gangetica is recommended as a partial replacement for concentrate in rabbit production.