Effect of fish meal as replacement protien source for soya waste in pellets on feed intake and growth performance of meat rabbits

Le thi lan phuong [1], Le duc ngoan , Nguyen thi vinh

Summary

The study aimed to evaluate the effect of replacement soya waste protein levels for fish meal protein and plant one on growth performance and economic profit, and effect of room temperature and humidity on feed intake of growing rabbits. Forty local rabbits of average live weight of 1.2 kg were randomly allocated into 5 dietary treatments with 4 replicates (CRBD). Based on proportion of protein levels replacement from fish meal (FM), treatments named FM0, FM25, FM50, FM75 and compare feeds (CF), respective 0, 25, 50 and 75% protein derived from fish meal. Formulated pellets consisted of rice bran, corn meal and soybean by-products and or fishmeal which replaced soya waste by-products. Results have shown that temperature-humid index (THI) affected high non-linearly daily feed intake (P<0.05), while proportions between animal protein and plant one in pellets affected no significantly different growth rate, feed intake and feed conversion ratios (P>0.05). However, high animal proportions in pellets for rabbits significantly have improved economic profit (2.7-4.3 times higher than the control diet). In recommendation, fish meal should be included up to 75% of total CP (or 13% as DM of diet) in pellets and appropriate methods for controlling THI should be considered.

Keywords: growth rate, proportion of animal and plant protein, profit, rabbits, temperature-humid index