Feeding Rice Husk-Poultry Manure with and without Enzyme Supplementation on Performance and Carcass Profile of Rabbit

Abstract

A total of thirty-six (36) rabbits of mixed sexes were used in a ten (10) week feeding trials to investigate the relative effect of dietary levels of rice husk poultry manure (RHPM) supplemented with or without β-xylanase. The rabbits were randomly allotted into six (6) dietary treatment groups of 0, 10 and 20% of RHPM with or without β-xylanase in a randomized complete block design experiment. Each treatment has three (3) replicates with two (2) rabbits in each. Analyzed data on daily weight gain, average daily feed intake, feed conversion efficiency, live shrunk weight, dressed carcass and dressing percentage were significantly (p<0.05) influenced by the tested RHPM with or without enzyme inclusion. The results showed no significant difference (P>0.05) in percentage primal cuts of rabbits. There was no mortality, however, the best performance was observed with rabbits fed 10% RHPM with enzyme supplementation.

Key words: rabbits, nutrase XYLA, rice husk, poultry manure, Carcass characteristics