Performance of purebred and crossbred rabbits in Australia: doe reproductive and pre-weaning litter traits

Abstract

Data from a rabbit breeding experiment were analysed to compare the doe reproductive and pre-weaning litter performance of 3 breeds of rabbits, namely New Zealand White (N), Californian (C), and Flemish Giant (F), and their crosses CN (C × N) and FN (F × N). The foundation stock of 152 rabbits was collected from 26 different sources in New South Wales, Australia. Data on reproductive traits, doe age at first successful mating (DA), doe weight at first successful mating (DW) arising from 104 does, conception rate (CR) from 808 matings, and kindling interval (KI) from 325 records of 119 does were analysed. Overall means for reproductive traits DA, DW, CR, and KI were 21 weeks, 3.6 kg, 0.75, and 7.4 weeks, respectively. DA, CR, and KI did not differ significantly among different breeds and their crosses. DW of C does was found to be significantly lighter than all other breed crosses in the study. Month-year of mating significantly affected DA, DW, and CR (P < 0.01), and as the parity number increased, there was a significant (P < 0.01) decrease in KI. As age of the doe at mating increased there was a significant increase in DW (P < 0.01), CR (P < 0.05), and KI (P < 0.01). Data from 436 litters of 157 does were included in the analysis of pre-weaning litter traits. The overall means for the pre-weaning litter traits were: number born per litter (NB, 8.1), number born alive per litter (NBA, 6.9), number weaned per litter (NW, 3.3), total litter birth weight (TLBW, 453.7 g), live litter birth weight (LLBW, 397.1 g), litter weaning weight (LWW, 2.8 kg), and average birth weight of kits per litter (ABW, 58.1 g). Doe breed significantly affected NW (P < 0.05), TLBW (P < 0.01), LLBW (P < 0.05), LWW, and ABW (P < 0.01). N does and crossbred does (CN and FN) performed better than purebred F and C does for NW and LWW. A significant heterosis of 41.9% and 40.8% was observed in CN does for traits NW and LWW, respectively. ABW of F does was significantly higher than that of all other breed crosses in the study. Buck breed did not have any significant effect on any of the pre-weaning litter traits under study. Parity significantly affected NW (P < 0.05), TLBW (P < 0.01), LLBW (P < 0.05), and ABW (P < 0.01). First parity does produced litters with significantly lighter birth weights. The month-year of birth effect was significant for NW, LWW (P < 0.01), and ABW (P < 0.05). The coefficients of variation for the doe reproductive traits and pre-weaning litter traits ranged between 12.1 and 59.5% and 16.1 and 93.3%, respectively. High phenotypic variances and coefficients of variation observed for traits NW and LWW indicate that good response could be realised through selection. Repeatability estimates for reproductive traits CR and KI were very low. Low to moderate repeatability estimates in the range 0.17-0.25 were observed for pre-weaning litter traits. Significant positive phenotypic correlations were observed between litter size and litter weight traits (0.30-0.97). A significant negative correlation was observed between ABW and ...

Heritability of resistance to bacterial infection in meat rabbits

“…The general lack of influence of heterosis on disease incidence in this study may be due to less genetic isolation between the breeds of rabbits or simply because there is no consistent heterosis effect for this trait. There was no significant heterosis observed in the breed crosses in this population (Prayaga and Eady, 2003) for individual growth and slaughter traits but significant levels of heterosis were observed for doe reproductive traits in one breed cross (Prayaga and Eady, 2002).…”

Milk yield and kit development of four breeds of rabbit in Ibadan, Nigeria

“…Hamouda et al [ 17 ] reported litter size value of 8.50 at first generation with Hyla rabbits in Tunisia. The litter size at birth in this study were also lower than 8.3 reported as average in different rabbit breeds in Australia [ 18 ], but closer to 6.30 recorded with New Zealand White rabbits in USA [ 19 ]. Litter size at birth obtained from this study were within the range reported by Kabir [ 20 ] for pure bred rabbits in Nigeria but lower litter size at weaning compared to values obtained in this study.…”

“…The average kit weight at birth obtained in this study, were 47.19, 50.95, 47.99 and 45.51 in Fauve de Bourgogne, Chinchilla, British Spot and New Zealand White, respectively, compared to other authors; the average weights of kits at birth were 58.1 g and 60.2 g [ 18 ] in Australia, 43.7 g in Sudanese rabbits [ 21 ] and 62.07 g reported by Karikari et al [ 22 ] in Ghana. Akinsola [ 14 ] reported higher weaned kits’ weight than the value recorded in similar Hyla rabbit in Tunisia [ 17 ], Egypt [ 23 ] and Chrystosome et al [ 16 ] in Benin.…”

Heterosis, direct and maternal additive effects on rabbit growth and carcass traits from a Canadian experiment

“…These results support those reported by Ouyed et al (2007) with regard to LW63 which decreased after the 4 th litter. Also, Prayaga and Eady (2003) reported that the individual body weights at 5 and 10 wk of age were significantly lower in the 1 st parity born rabbits than in other higher parity born rabbits. However, they reported significantly higher carcass weights in the 2 nd and 3 rd parity litters than in 1 st and 4 th ones.…”

“…Breed type differences for carcass traits have often been reported (Lukefahr et al, 1983;Ozimba and Lukefahr, 1991;Nofal et al, 2004). Prayaga and Eady (2003) reported that CA purebreds and crossbreds had the lowest performances, both for growth and slaughter traits, except for dressing out percentage. Lukefahr et al (1983) also reported higher dressing percentage in rabbits coming from CA lines when compared to the NZ lines, although our findings did not coincide with these results.…”