Performance, apparent nutrient digestibility responses and the economics of feeding Nigerian rice milling by-products to weaner rabbits

Abstract

An eighty-four (84) day feeding trial was conducted to evaluate the effect of feeding rice milling by-products (rice offal, rice bran and rice grain rejects) on growth performance and production economics of crossbred (New Zealand white X Chinchilla) weaner rabbits with mean live weight of 347g. The rabbits were randomly allotted, 5 each, to five experimental diets, with each animal serving as a replicate. The diets were designated D1, D2, D3, D4 and D5. Diet D1 contained no rice milling by-products and served as the control, D2 contained 20% rice offal, D3 20% rice bran, D4 20% rice grain rejects and D5 10% rice bran + 10% grain rejects. Feed and water were provided ad-libitum. Daily feed intake, daily weight gain and feed conversion ratio (67.94- 79.42g, 13.50-15.97g, and 4.71-5.67 respectively) were not affected (p>0.05) by inclusion of rice milling byproducts in the diets. Apparent nutrient digestibility indices, except for Nitrogen Free Extract (NFE), were also not influenced (p>0.05) by treatments. NFE digestibility was depressed by the feeding of rice offal (p<0.05). Feed cost per kg of weight gain was highest for the rabbit fed the control diet (₦587/kg) and lowest (p<0.05) for
those on diet containing rice bran (₦436/kg). Gross margin between total production cost and revenue was highest for rabbits fed a combination of rice bran and rice grain rejects(₦701.18/rabbit), and lowest (₦561.62/rabbit) for the diet that contained no rice milling by-products. It was, therefore, concluded that the use of these rice milling by-products can be recommended for meat rabbit production. However, further studies should be carried out to elaborate the chemical properties and feed potential of this class of feed ingredientsAn eighty-four (84) day feeding trial was conducted to evaluate the effect of feeding rice milling by-products (rice offal, rice bran and rice grain rejects) on growth performance and production economics of crossbred (New Zealand white X Chinchilla) weaner rabbits with mean live weight of 347g. The rabbits were randomly allotted, 5 each, to five experimental diets, with each animal serving as a replicate. The diets were designated D1, D2, D3, D4 and D5. Diet D1 contained no rice milling by-products and served as the control, D2 contained 20% rice offal, D3 20% rice bran, D4 20% rice grain rejects and D5 10% rice bran + 10% grain rejects. Feed
and water were provided ad-libitum. Daily feed intake, daily weight gain and feed conversion ratio (67.94- 79.42g, 13.50-15.97g, and 4.71-5.67 respectively) were not affected (p>0.05) by inclusion of rice milling byproducts in the diets. Apparent nutrient digestibility indices, except for Nitrogen Free Extract (NFE), were also not influenced (p>0.05) by treatments. NFE digestibility was depressed by the feeding of rice offal (p<0.05). Feed cost per kg of weight gain was highest for the rabbit fed the control diet (₦587/kg) and lowest (p<0.05) for those on diet containing rice bran (₦436/kg). Gross margin between total production cost and revenue was highest for rabbits fed a combination of rice bran and rice grain rejects(₦701.18/rabbit), and lowest (₦561.62/rabbit) for the diet that contained no rice milling by-products. It was, therefore, concluded that the use of these rice milling by-products can be recommended for meat rabbit production. However, further studies should be carried out to elaborate the chemical properties and feed potential of this class of feed ingredients.