DEVELOPMENT OF GROWING RABBITS FEED WITH DIFFERENT LEVELS OF RESTORATIVE YEAST (<em>Saccharomyces spp</em>) DRIED BY SPRAY - DRY METHOD

Abstract

This study was carried out to evaluate the inclusion of restorative yeast (Saccharomyces spp), dried by spray-dry process, replacing soybean meal crude protein in diets for growing rabbits. Fifty 39-to-70-day-old New Zealand White rabbits, 25 males and 25 females, were individually kept in wire cages during the experiment. The diets were formulated to attend the requeriments for growing rabbits: soybean meal crude protein was gradually replaced by five levels of restorative yeast crude protein (5%, 10%, 15%, 17% and 20%). The animals were alloted in a completely randomized design with five treatments and ten replicates. There was a quadratic effect (P < 0.05) of the inclusion levels of restorative yeast on the live weight of 70-day-old rabbits and on daily weight gain. The worst results were observed at the inclusion of 13.4% of the restorative yeast. The remaining development characteristics studied were not influenced by the yest inclusion replacing soybean meal crude protein. Acording to the results, it is feasible to include 20% of restorative yeast (Saccharomyces spp), dried by spray-dry process, in diets for growing rabbits replacing all soybean meal crude protein.