The Effect of Three Dietary Crude Protein Levels on Digestibility and Tests Function in Male Pubertal Rabbits

Abstract

Six healthy crossbred rabbits (New Zealand white & Chinchilla) were assigned to each of three isocaloric rations viz: treatment A (control) with 20% crude protein on dry matter basis (CP), treatment B with 14% CP and treatment C with 24% CP. The performance parameters considered included dry matter and CP digestibility, feed intake, growth rate, and reproduction parameters like paired testes weight, paired testes volume/density, gonadal sperm reserves and daily sperm production. The results showed that CP digestibility was significantly affected (P= 0.05) while dry matter digestibility was not significantly affected. Average weight gain was significantly different (P= 0.05) between treatment B and C but not between B and C and control. There was no significant dietary effect on relative testis weight among treatments but testis volume was significantly enhanced by dietary CP. Daily sperm production and gonadal sperm reserves were significantly enhanced (P= 0.05) with increasing dietary CP. It is concluded that dietary crude protein significantly enhances the reproduction efficiency of pubertal rabbits.

Keywords

• Crude protein
• Pubertal rabbits
• Growth rate
• Digestibility
• Testis function
• Nigeria