EFFECT OF HUTCH AND FEEDING TROUGH DESIGN

ABSTRACT

This study was carried out to evaluate the effect of hutch and feeding trough design on growth performance and behavior of rabbits reared in Benin City, Nigeria. A total of forty-eight rabbits consisting of both male and female rabbits of mixed breeds, aged between 8-10 weeks were used for this study. The rabbits were reared in a wooden hutch with an earthen feeder (WHEF), wooden hutch with a suspended feeder (WHSF), metallic hutch with a suspended feeder (MHSF), and metallic hutch with a floor feeder (MHFF) in a Completely Randomized Design with 12 rabbits per design treatment such that each rabbit served as a replicate. The rabbits were fed basal diet ad-libitum for a 10-week experimental period. At the end of the 10th week, the rabbits were evaluated on their feed intake, weight gain, daily weight gain, total and daily feed intake and feed conversion ratio. Results showed that rabbits housed in metallic hutch with suspended feeder had a higher (p<0.05) total weight gain than those in wooden hutch with suspended feeder, metallic hutch with floor feeder, and wooden hutch with earthen feeders, respectively. It also recorded the highest daily weight gain (p<0.05) compared with other treatments, respectively. The study also showed that rabbits consumes more feed at night time than during the day time across all treatments. However, it also revealed that feed wastage per rabbit was higher (p<0.05) in the wooden hutch compared to the metallic hutches. Wooden hutch with earthen feeder recorded the highest wastage followed by wooden hutch with suspended feeder while among the metallic hutches, metallic hutch with floor feeder recorded higher wastage followed by metallic hutch with suspended feeder. Therefore, rabbits should be reared in metallic hutch with suspended and floor feeder to reduce feed wastage.