EFFECT OF FEEDING GRADED LEVELS OF ROASTED SUNFLOWER MEAL ON THE PERFORMANCE, NUTRIENT DIGESTIBILITY AND CARCASS CHARACTERISTICS OF RABBITS

An experiment was carried out in a five-week feeding trial to determine the effect of feeding graded levels of roasted sunflower seed meal  (SFM) on the performance, nutrient digestibility and carcass characteristics of rabbits. Forty male and female New Zealand White x California  rabbits were randomly assigned to four dietary treatments in five replications. The inclusion levels of SFM in diets were 0 (control), 10, 20, and 30% levels in a completely randomized design. There  was  significant (P<0.001) reduction in daily feed intake (DFI) of rabbits on 30% SFM based diet. The DFI of 56.81g was obtained for rabbits fed 30% SFM based diet against 65.73, 67.17 and 71.98g for those fed 0, 10 and 20% dietary levels of SFM, respectively. The daily weight gain (DWG) (15.65 - 18.09g), feed conversion ratio (FCR) (3.72 - 4.28), final live weight  (1512.50 - 1662.50g), carcass weight (712.50 - 837.50g), relative organ weights and dressing percentage (46.92 - 50.34%) were not significantly influenced by dietary treatments.  The  dry matter intake (DMI), organic matter intake (OMI), acid detergent fibre intake (ADFI) increased with increasing dietary levels of SFM up to 20%, but there was a significant (P<0.01) reduction in the intake of these nutrients at 30% dietary level of SFM. The crude protein intake (CPI) and neutral detergent fibre intake (NDFI) also followed the same trend but with a higher level of significance (P<0.001). There were significant differences in the digestibilities of some nutrients (DMD, P<0.001; OMD, P<0.001; and NDFD, P<0.01). However, crude protein digestibility (CPD) and acid detergent fibre digestibility (ADFD) were not significantly affected by dietary treatments. The results showed that SFM could be incorporated in rabbit diets up to 30% level of inclusion without adversely affecting the animal.