Effect of the floor type and stocking density on the productive performance of growing rabbits.

Content Provider	Semantic Scholar
Author	Princz, Z. Nagy, István Radnai, István Gerencsér, Zsolt Szendrő, Zs. Xicato, G. Trocino, Angela Lukefahr, Steven D.
Copyright Year	2008
Abstract	The aim of the experiment was to study the effect o f he floor type and stocking density on the performance of growing rabbits. Five-week-old Panno n White rabbits (n=120) were housed in pens (0.82 m) until 11 weeks of age. Three groups were establis hed according to the floor type. Straw was put into the pens at different times after weaning: 6W = wire net during the whole fattening period, 4W2D = wire net between the 5 th and 9 and straw between the 9 th and 11 week, 2W4D = wire net between the 5 th and 7 and straw between the 7 th and 11 week. The number of rabbits per pen was 13, 10 or 7 using the stocking density of 16, 12 or 8 r abbits/m. Rabbits were fed ad libitum with a commercial diet in pellet with and without medicati on after weaning and during the last two weeks of fattening period, respectively. The time at which t he straw was placed into the pens had a weak effect on the average daily gain, feed intake and feed con version ratio. In groups 4W2D and 2W4D the feed intake and average daily gain decreased after placi ng straw into the pen. The stocking density did not affect significantly the productive performance of growing rabbits. We conclude that housing of rabbits on wire net after weaning and rearing them on a straw floor during the second part of the fattening period could be a good strategy for preve nting enteritis (coccidiosis) and achieving a good production.
Starting Page	1225
Ending Page	1228
Page Count	4
File Format	PDF HTM / HTML
Alternate Webpage(s)	http://world-rabbit-science.com/WRSA-Proceedings/Congress-2008-Verona/Papers/W-Princz2.pdf
Language	English
Access Restriction	Open
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article