Effects of breed, parity, day of lactation and number of kits on milk production of rabbits.

Abstract

Lactation records (n = 86) from 60 does of four breeds (Californian, New Zealand White, Palomino and White Satin) were analyzed to assess the effects of breed, parity, day of lactation and number of kits on milk production. Breed of doe tended (P less than .07) to be important for mean milk yield according to ANOVA results. Californian does had numerically higher production than did does of the other breeds. Doe body weight, litter size born alive and weaned and litter weaning weight, likewise, were not influenced (P greater than .05) by breed of doe. Significant linear and quadratic relationships were found between milk production vs day of lactation, and milk production vs number of kits. However, breed x days and breed x number of kits interactions (P less than .05) indicated that the individual breeds responded differently to two of these effects. Peak lactation occurred at approximately 20 d after kindling. As kit number increased, milk yield also increased to a predicted maximum when 12 kits were suckling. Parity tended (P less than .10) to influence lactation yield in a curvilinear manner, increasing steadily through the seventh parity and declining thereafter. A nonsignificant residual correlation (.34) between milk production and doe body weight was observed. Corresponding correlations between milk production were high for litter size born alive and weaned (r = .62 and .87, respectively) and litter weaning weight (r = .86). Although lactation curves are unique to each particular breed, milk yield is influenced by several factors.

The effects of size of suckled litter on intake behaviour, performance and health status of young and reproducing rabbits

“…At slaughter (on day 35 post-partum) the body condition of females was similar in both groups, except 524 production by the doe and an increase of milk availability for suckling young. This is in agreement with Lebas [13,14] and McNitt and Lukefahr [17] who showed that milk production increases with the number of suckling rabbits, but individual milk intake decreases. On days 16 and 25 of lactation, 8.9% and 7.4% of the rabbits from litters of 10 young ingested less than 5 g of milk.…”

Rabbit milk: A review of quantity, quality and non-dietary affecting factors

“…Lukefahr et al (1983) demonstrated that New Zealand White does are superior (+ 30%) to Californian does and that crossbred rabbits of both breeds are superior than the pure breeds. However, in another study, the same team determined a comparable milk production for the 4 breeds tested (Calfornian, New Zealand White, Palomino and White Satin) (McNitt and Lukefahr, 1990), which indicate that the genetic background of the particular populations is perhaps more important than the breed itself.…”

“…McNitt and Lukefahr (1990) reported even an increase till the 7 th litter; however because less productive females were progressively culled out, their selection policy has favoured the milk yield with increasing parity order. The highest difference is found between the 1 st and 2 nd lactation.…”

“…In various studies it has been demonstrated that the number of suckling kits is the main factor affecting milk yield of does and by consequence the intake of the suckling kits (Lebas, 1969;Torres et al, 1979;Partridge and Allen, 1982;McNitt and Lukefahr, 1990;Pascual et al, 1996 and. In Figure 2, the relationship between the number of suckling kits and the milk yield is presented (Lebas, 1987).…”

Some factors affecting production and milk composition characters in a crossbreeding experiment involving Gabali and V- line rabbits in Egypt.

“…Sedki et al (2002) reported that the effect of parity on kit weight at weaning was significant (P<0.05 or 0.01). An increment of milk production with the parity order has been reported (McNitt and Lukefahr, 1990;Hassan et al, 1992) that could be correlated to the development of the mammary glands.…”