Abstract

FUENTES CARMONA, Francisco Fabián; POBLETE PEREZ, Cecilia Eva  and  HUERTA PIZARRO, Manuel Adrián. Productive response of rabbits fed with green hydroponic oats forage as partial replacement of commercial concentrate. Acta Agron. [online]. 2011, vol.60, n.2, pp.183-189. ISSN 0120-2812.

The productive response of Californian rabbits fed with hydroponic green oats forage (HGOF) as a partial replacement of commercial concentrate (CC) was evaluated under desert conditions in northern Chile. Five treatments were established as follow: 0, 25, 50, 75 and 100% replacement of daily diet with HGOF, which was harvested and used directly at 10 days after sowing. Forty-five rabbits weaned at 31 days were evaluated in a completely randomized design until slaughter weight of 2.0 kg. HGOF quality was considered as good, presenting similar nutritional value to CC. The variables assessed and range values were: average dry matter intake (59.17-104.73 g/d), average weight gain (16.35-29.10 g/ rabbit for day), feed conversion average (3.31-3.93 kg DM/ kg LW), time of weight at slaughter (53-91 d), final weight (1430-2044 g/ rabbit), carcass weight (1235-1385 g/ rabbit) and dressing out percent (59.19- 62.25%). The replacement up to 50% of the basal diet with HGOF did not affect significantly (P < 0.05) the feed intake, time of weight at slaughter, final weight and dressing out percent, making feasible its use as alternative forage on diet of fattening rabbits under desert conditions.

Keywords : Dressing out percent; feed intake; final weight; rabbits; time of weight at slaughter.

        · abstract in Spanish     · text in Spanish     · Spanish ( pdf )