EFFECT OF DIETARY FIBRE SOURCES ON GROWTH PERFORMANCE, NUTRIENTS DIGESTIBILITY, BLOOD SERUM CONSTITUENTS AND CARCASS TRAITS IN GROWING RABBITS

The present study was carried out to evaluate the Possibility of decreasing the feeding cost of Growing meat rabbits by dietary inclusion of Agro-industrial by products such as peanut hulls (PH) and peanut skins (PS) as partial or total substitutes for the traditional fibrous feedstuffs. Eighty growing New Zealand white (NZW) male Rabbits, about 48 days of age and 1077+ 35 g average live body weight were used in the present Experiment. Animals were allotted to five experimental groups and were fed five different complete pelleted diets. The 1^st diet (Diet 1) served Is a control and contained 48% berseem hay BH) as a main source of roughage, while the other four diets contained 12% BH + 12% PH Diet 2); zero % BH+ 18% PH (Diet 3); 24% BH +36% PS (Diet 4) and 24% BH+ 6% PH+ 18% PS (Diet 5), respectively. In Diets 2, 4 and 5, Crude fibre (CF) of peanut by-products substituted about 50% of the total CF in the control diet, While in Diet 3, CF of PH substituted about 75% Of the total dietary CF. All diets were formulated to be nearly iso-nitrogenous (16% crude protein), Nearly iso-caloric (2700 Kcal. DE/kg. diet) and Nearly iso-fibrous (about 14% crude fibre). Feed intake were higher (P< 0.05) by rabbits fed The peanut by-products diets than those fed the Control diet. Averages of live body weight at 15 Weeks of age, daily weight gain, feed conversion and economical efficiency were the best (P< 0.05) for rabbits fed Diet 2 (Containing 12% PH) And the worst (P<0.05) for rabbits fed Diet 4 (Containing 36% PS) compared with those fed The other diets. Apparent digestion coefficients of DM, OM, CF, EE and NFE and feeding values of diets expressed as DE, TDN or DCP were the most highly (P < 0.05) for Diet 2 and the lowest for Diet 4, with no statistical differences among the other diets. Levels of serum total protein and albumin were lower (P < 0.05) while urea-N level was higher (P < 0l) in rabbits fed Diet 4 than the control rabbits. The previous blood serum parameters had the opposite trend with rabbits fed Diet 2. Carcass weight (%) tended to be lower (P < 0.05), while visceral fat was higher (P < 0.05) in the rabbits fed Diet 4 than those fed the control diet, with no significant differences among the other groups of rabbits. Inclusion of peanut hulls up to 12% of the diet (to replace about 50% of the dietary crude fibre content), decrease the feeding cost without any adverse effects on growth performance parameters of growing rabbits. More studies are required to ascertain the optimum level of peanut skin in the diets of growing rabbits.