Breed and doe’s body weight effect on litter weight and number of rabbits raised in south south Nigeria

Abstract

A total of twenty four does of New Zealand White (NZW), Dutch (DUT) and their crosses i.e. NZW x DUT were used to determine the effects of breed  and dam’s body weight on litter weight and number of rabbits in South South Nigeria. The rabbits were kept in cages and were artificially  inseminated and monitored for a period of one year. Data on body weight before mating (BWBM), body weight after mating (BWAM), body weight before kindling (BWBK), body weight after kindling (BWAK), litter size (LS) and litter weight (LW). Data generated were analyzed using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). The results showed significant difference (p<0.05) in BWBM and BWAM in DUT and NZW x DUT breeds of rabbits, DUT recorded the highest values of BWBM and BWAM, while NZW x DUT had the least values of BWBM and BWAM. BWAK was significantly different between DUT and NZW x DUT. More so, NZW x DUT recorded the highest values for LS and LW. The results also showed that breed effect had negative correlation with BWBW, BWAM and BWAK with correlation values of -0.64, -0.64 and - 0.207 respectively. The breed of rabbits also revealed a high correlation  between BWBM and BWAM. BWAK showed a high correlation between BWAM and BWBK. The information provided by this study revealed that breed and the body weight of the dam influenced litter weight and litter number which can be harnessed in improvement programmes for rabbits.

Keywords: Rabbits, Breed, Body weight, Litter size, Litter number