NUTRIENT INTAKE AND DIGESTIBILITY OF WEANER RABBITS FED YAM PEELS REPLACING MAIZE AT DIFFERENT LEVELS

Abstract

A fifty-seven days feeding trial was conducted using weaner rabbits of mixed breed. The aim was to determine nutrient intake and digestibility by the test animals fed graded levels of yam peels replacing maize. The experiment was laid in a randomized complete block design where the dietary treatments were 0%, 5%, 10%, 15%, and 20% which were replicated thrice. Results obtained revealed significant (P<0.05) differences in all variables evaluated in terms of the nutrient intake while significant (P<0.05) differences were observed only in respect to the crude fibre, acid detergent fibre, and neutral detergent fibre for the digestibility indices. Crude protein intake ranged from 10.78% to 16.62% while crude fibre intake was in the range of 3.32% to 5.53%. The crude fibre, acid detergent fibre and neutral detergent fibre digestibilities were 19.59% - 68.99%, 10.65% - 39.09% and 11.52% -44.78% respectively which increased with increase in the test material. From the results obtained, it is concluded that yam peels inclusion in the diet of weaner rabbits could be as high as 20% replacing maize without any harmful effect. It is however recommended that the experimental diets be fed to other categories of rabbits with a view to evaluate the nutrient intake, digestibility and other performance variables.