Response of grower rabbits fed diet containing boiled sorrel (<i>Hibiscus sabdariffa l.</i>) Seed meal on performance growth characteristics

Abstract

The experiment was conducted to evaluate the performance of grower rabbits fed sorrel seed (Hibiscus sabdariffa L.) meal. Thirty grower rabbits  were randomly allotted to five dietary treatments containing the control diet, raw seed diet and boiled sorrel seeds in already boiled water for 15, 30 and 45 minutes. Completely randomized design was used with six rabbits per treatment and two rabbits per replicate. Parameters evaluated were  average feed intake, average weight gain, feed conversion ratio, final body weight, feed cost/kg gain and Mortality. The result of the experiment showed that there was significant difference (P<0.05) in average daily feed intake but no significant (P>0.05) differences in final body weight gain, daily weight gain, total feed intake, feed conversion ratio and feed cost/kg gain of rabbits fed diet containing sorrel seeds boiled at varying boiling duration. Feed conversion ratio was better in rabbits fed the 30 minutes boiled sorrel seed based diet (6.28) compared to rabbits fed 45 minutes boiled sorrel seed based diet (7.69). The final weight increased as boiling duration increased but later declined as boiling duration increased to 45 minutes (1360.00, 1286.67, 1293.33, 1386.67 and 1306.00g/rabbit) respectively. Feed cost/kg gain value was lower in rabbits fed diet containing boiled sorrel seeds at 30 minutes (? 600.20) compared to other treatments. Based on the result of the study, it was therefore concluded that grower
rabbits could tolerate up to 15% sorrel seed meal boiled for 30 minutes in their diets.

Keywords: Rabbits, Sorrel seed meal, Boiling and performance growth