Seasonal Effect of a Comparative Study on Growth and Reproductive Performance of Three Breeds of Rabbit

¹OKIYI, P.C. AND ²EDOH, H.C.

¹National Root Crop Research Institute, Umudike, Abia State, Nigeria.

²Abia State University, Umuahia Location, Abia State, Nigeria.

E-mail: okiyipatrickc@gmail.com

ABSTRACT

The experiment was carried out to find out the effect of season on growth and reproduction of rabbits in Nigeria. The rabbits used in this experiment consist of ten (10) Does and three (3) Bucks from each breed of rabbits. The three breeds used were New Zealand White, Chinchilla and California. Water and concentrate were readily available ad libitum with forage like guinea grass-Panicum maximum and elephant grass- Pennisetum purpurem which was supplied two (2) to three (3) times a week for fiber requirement. The experiment lasted for five (5) months; between November to March, at the peak of the dry season. One way classification and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) with equal replication; while the Duncan’s New Multiple Range Test was used to compare mean among the three breeds of rabbits, as described by Steel and Torrie (1960). Results showed that there were significant difference (P<0.05) in number of kids born alive, litter birth weight and doe weight change between kindling and weaning. It further shows that there were no significant differences (P>0.05) in the other characteristics. The result of the study showed that New Zealand White kindled more kids alive than either of the two breeds. The change in does weight at kindling and weaning also showed that New Zealand White was heaviest than either of the two breeds (p<0.05). Chinchilla delivered the heaviest kids among the breeds tested (P<0.05).