Growth performance, carcass and economic characteristics of weaner rabbits fed varying levels of pelleted boiled Negro Coffee (Senna occidentalis) seed meal

Abstract

The growth performance, carcass and economic characteristics and economic of weaner rabbits fed diets containing graded levels of pelleted boiled Senna occidentalis seed meal were studied. Forty five (45) mixed breeds and sexes’ weaner rabbits were used for the experiment. The rabbits were randomly assigned to five (5) dietary treatments containing boiled Senna occidentalis seed meal (BSOSM) at 0.00 %, 2.50 %, 5.00 %, 7.50 % and 10.00 % inclusion levels. The experimental design was a completely randomized design. The data collected include body weight and feed intake, while the body weight gain, feed conversion ratio (FCR), protein efficiency ratio (PER), energy efficiency (EE), cost of feed per kg body weight gain and nutrient digestibility were calculated. The data collected were subjected to analysis of variance. The results revealed that there were significant (P < 0.05) differences in all parameter measured but rabbits fed 7.5 % BSOSM had the best performance in terms of growth rate, Protein efficiency ratio and energy efficiency (EE), and the lowest cost of feed per Kg body weight gain. The result of the carcass characteristics measured showed that these characteristics were significantly (P < 0.05) affected by the levels of inclusion of BSOSM. It can be inferred that BSOSM is of good nutritional quality if the anti-nutritional factors are eliminated. It was therefore concluded that the use of boiled Senna occidentalis seed meal at 7.5 % level should be encouraged in the diet of rabbits because it had no deleterious effect on growth performance and carcass characteristics.