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.

Feed Intake and Apparent Nutrient Digestibility of Growing Rabbits Fed Asystasia gangetica with Different Levels of Corn

“…The DM and OM digestibility were higher (p < 0.05) in rabbits fed with diets T1 and T2 compared to those fed diets T3 and T4. The DM digestibility observed in this study ranged from 80.2% to 89.2%, and these values are similar to the reports of Ikyume et al (2019) but higher than the findings of Rahman et al (2020b). Likewise, the OM digestibility values in this study ranged from 48.4% to 74.0%, aligning with previous findings (Rahman et al, 2020b).…”

“…Notably, the EE contents of both ingredients used in this study were higher than the EE requirements (2.5-4.0%) for adult rabbits, as reported by the National Research Council (NRC) (1977). In contrast, the organic matter (OM) content of A. gangetica is similar to the findings by Rahman et al (2020b). The CP content is lower compared to the reports by Khalil (2016), who found that the CP content in A. gangetica was 23.2%.…”

“…The chemical composition of A. gangetica and corn is presented in Table 1. The DM (16.6%) and EE (4.3%) contents of A. gangetica in this study were higher compared to the estimates reported by Rahman et al (2020b). These differences might be due to several factors, including botanical fractions and plant maturity (Koca & Erakul, 2016).…”