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AUTHOR(S):

Eseohe Ejeme Martins, Adeyemi Mustapha Bamgbose, Richard Abiodun Sobayo, Lawrence Tokunbo Egbeyale

 

TITLE

Response of Weaner Rabbits to Differently Processed Cassava Root Meal-Full Fat Soybean Based Diets

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ABSTRACT

Feeding is the most important component of rabbit production, representing 70% of the costs. Research on alternative feed ingredients for rabbit diets like cassava by-products are important for reducing the cost of production. This study investigated the response of weaner rabbits to differently processed cassava root meal-full fat soybean diets. Cassava roots after peeling and washing, were subjected to five different processing methods: unseived, sieved, pulverized, wet-grated and chips before mixing with extruded full-fat soybean at a ratio of 50:50 to obtain five CASSOY blends. The CASSOY were each used at 30% inclusion levels to obtain 5 dietary treatments. Thirty-six weaner rabbits were divided into six treatments with six replicate, a rabbit per replicate. Feed intake, growth, nutrient digestibility, haematology; serum indices, carcass characteristics, sensory evaluation and cost implication were determined for 10 weeks. Data were subjected to one-way analysis of variance in a completely randomized design. Results showed highest (p<0.05) packed cell volume (44.00%), haemoglobin (15.10g/dL), red blood cell count (3.63 X1012/L) values were recorded for rabbits fed diets with pulverized cassava root while white blood cell count (6.50 X103/L) was lowest for rabbit fed the control diet. Total protein and globulin were highest (p<0.05) in rabbits fed the control diet, glucose and urea were lowest (p>0.05) in rabbits fed diet with unsieved cassava root. Highest dressing percentage (60.28%) was recorded for rabbit fed diet with sieved cassava root. Sensory evaluation was significant (p<0.05) for all the parameters with the highest overall acceptability for rabbits fed diet with sieved cassava root. The lowest (p>0.05) feed cost (₦177.04) and feed cost/weight gain were recorded for diet with wet-grated cassava root. The study concluded that experimental diets with CASSOY did not improve the growth performance of rabbits but improved the blood parameters and cost benefit analysis

KEYWORDS

Rabbit, Cassava root-meal, Soybean meal, CASSOY

 

Cite this paper

Eseohe Ejeme Martins, Adeyemi Mustapha Bamgbose, Richard Abiodun Sobayo, Lawrence Tokunbo Egbeyale. (2020) Response of Weaner Rabbits to Differently Processed Cassava Root Meal-Full Fat Soybean Based Diets. International Journal of Agricultural Science, 5, 67-84

 

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