Nutritive value of dehydrated whole maize plant and its effect on performance and carcass characteristics of rabbits.

Abstract

Seven diets were formulated in order to determine the nutritive value of whole maize plant at three stages of maturity by substitution of a control diet (C) with 20% and 40% whole maize plant at early dough, mid-dent and mature stages of grain. A digestibility trial was performed with 74 rabbits. Digestible protein and energy values of whole maize plant at different maturity stages were calculated by substitution and regression procedures. A fattening experiment was carried out with 200 rabbits from weaning (28 days of age) giving ad libitum either diet C or 20% mature whole maize plant. One hundred and forty-three rabbits were slaughtered at 63 days of age and some carcass traits were measured.The crude protein and fibre content of whole maize plant decreases as the kernel matures (CP: 8.3, 8.1 and 7.6% DM; CF: 15.8, 12.6 and 13.4% DM; NDF: 45.3, 38.0 and 38.0% DM; ADF: 19.1, 15.0 and 16.1% DM for early dough, mid-dent and mature stages, respectively). The digestible energy concentration, calculated by regression, of whole maize plant increased (P<0.01) with maturity stage (8.5, 9.5 and 10.4 MJ/kg DM, respectively) but the digestible protein value was higher (P<0.01) at the intermediate maturity stage (3.7, 4.5 and 3.2% DM). Rabbits given the diet with 20% plant maize at the maturity stage had similar feed intake (101 vs. 99 g DM/d) and live weight gain (44 vs. 45 g/d) but a worse feed conversion index than C rabbits (2.29 vs. 2.21, P=0.03). No differences were found at slaughter in live weight, carcass characteristics and dressing percentage of rabbits fed the two experimental diets.

Nutritive value of brewers’ grain and maize silage for fattening rabbits

“…However the CP content was lower than those reported by Fernández-Carmona et al (1996) or the Feedipedia database which mentioned a higher CP for this co-product, (27.7; 25.8%, respectively). The ADF content was 19.2%, which equals the value found earlier by Maertens and Salifou (1997) Maize silage on the other hand had a low fat (2.9%) and CP (5.7%) content in line with the value mentioned by Martínez et al (2006) at the intermediate maturity stage (mi-dent) and with those in Feedipedia. However, the batch maize silage used had a very low crude fibre (13.2%) and lignin content (1.5%) compared to the values presented in Feedipedia (a mean crude fibre of 20.3 and 2.7% of lignin is supposed).…”

“…The DM digestibility of the maize silage diet is comparable (59%) to that reported by Martínez et al (2006) who substituted 20 or 40% of maize plant at early dough stage. The energy digestibility (63.9%) was higher than the values obtained by the same group at early stage, but in line with their values found at mid-dent stage and full maturity stage (between 60 and 64%).…”

“…However, the low fat content of maize silage hinders an accurate determination (Villamide et al, 2001). The digestible protein of maize silage is low (4.4%, DM) and in line with the values estimated by Martínez et al (2006) for the maize silage mi-dent stage (between 4.5 and 4.7 depending of inclusion level and methodology).…”

“…The energy digestibility (63.9%) was higher than the values obtained by the same group at early stage, but in line with their values found at mid-dent stage and full maturity stage (between 60 and 64%). The CP digestibility (75.3%) on the other hand was somewhat higher than for all qualities tested by Martínez et al (2006). Moreover, they mentioned an increase in the digestibility coefficients of DM, GE and CP of the maize plant with the maturing process.…”

“…It is traditionally used for ruminants, mostly as silage. The Feedipedia database classed maize silage in the cereal and grass forage category, but only limited information is available on its nutritive value for the rabbit (Martínez et al, 2006). However, maize silage as a livestock feed has a low CP concentration, 8-9% (Carruthers et al, 2000;Darby and Lauer 2002) and 8.1% according to Feedipedia for the silage, with less than 25% DM.…”