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Livestock-Based Farming Systems, Renewable Resources and the Environment |
An experiment was conducted to determine effects of supplementation of paddy rice and/or rice grain and/or rice husk to sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) vines as basal diets for growing New Zealand White rabbits on feed intake, digestibility, average daily gain (ADG), feed conversion ratio (FCR) and economic returns. A total of 28 male New Zealand White growing rabbits at 6 weeks of age were allocated into 4 treatment groups with 7 rabbits each in single cages. Supplementations were designed as following: 1. Sweet potato vines (SPV): Basal diet without supplement, 2. PRG20: SPV plus raddy rice grain at 20 g/day, 3. BRG20: SPV plus broken rice grain at 20 g/day, 4. BRGH: SPV plus 16 g broken rice grain and 4 g rice husk in separate feed bowls. The experiment lasted 8 weeks following 1 week of adaptation. It was found that total DMI among the experimental and control groups were not significantly different (P>0.05), either in an absolute term (g/head/day) or as percentage of LW. However, supplementation of paddy rice, broken rice and rice husk all reduced forage intake and had a positive effect on ADG and FCR (P<0.05). No significant differences were found for the effects of the different supplements.