Nutritional feeding value and use of <em>Desmodium ovalifolium</em> hay replacing alfafa hay for rabbits in growth

Abstract

Two trials were carried out to determine the nutritional feeding value and the performance of rabbits fed with diets including desmodium hay (Desmodium ovalifolium). The digestibility trial used 14 male New Zealand White rabbits, with 50 days of age, in a completely randomized design with two treatments and seven replications. A reference diet and a test in which desmodium hay replaced 25% of the reference diet on DM basis were used. Digestible dry matter, digestible protein and digestible energy contents of desmodium hay, based on the total dry matter, were respectively, 17.97% and 4.77%, and 821kcal/kg. In the performance trial, 72 New Zealand White rabbits were used, 36 males and 36 females, 40 to 90 days old, alloted in a completely randomized design, with six treatments, six replications and two animals per experimental unit. The treatments consisted of a reference diet and other five diets where Desmodium ovalifolium hay replaced 15%, 30%, 45%, 60% or 75% of the alfafa hay, on crude fiber basis. The daily feed intake and weight gain during the period of 40 to 90 and 70 to 90 days old and the feed conversion in the period of 70 to 90 days old, as well as the final weight and carcass weight at 90 days, showed better result for the animals fed with desmodium diet. Excluding the diet reference, the regression analysis, according to the levels of alfalfa hay substitution, showed that not only the performance but also rabbits carcass traits were similar during the experimental period. The results showed that desmodium hay at those inclusion levels replaced efficiently alfalfa hay in rabbits rations.