Productive behavior of rabbits during the period of growth-fattening fed with fruits of mango (Mangifera indica) in partial substitution of the balanced food commercial.
Palma Castillo O. R., Hurtado E. A.
Author Affiliation: Avenida Universidad, Campus Los Guaritos, Escuela de Zootecnia, Universidad de Oriente, Núcleo Monagas, Maturín, 6201, Venezuela.
Revista Cientifica UDO Agricola 9 : 968-971
Abstract : With the purpose of evaluating the productive behaviour of rabbits during the period of growth-fattening, an experiment was carried out employing a partial substitution of the commercial balanced food (CMF) by creole mango fruit (Mangifera indica) in a commercial farm of the Monagas state, Venezuela. The experiment lasted 63 days, 32 racially mixed rabbits (New Zealand × California) were used. The rabbit were 30 days old and were lodged in cages. A completely random design with four treatments and four replications was used. Treatments were: T1: 120 g of CMF, T2: 80 g of CMF+40 g of mango fruit, T3: 60 g of CMF+60 g of mango fruit and T4: 40 g of CMF+80 g of creole mango. The dependent variables were: daily weight gain (DWG), final weight gain (FWG), nutritional conversion with CMF (NCCMF), final weight at 93 days old (FW), total consumption (TC). An analysis of variance was carried out using square minimum method. The results showed significant differences for all variables. The greatest mean values were: T1: 26.69±1.34 g for WDG; T1: 2083.75±7.85 kg for WFG; T1: 7434.37±11.23 kg for TC. The best NCCMF was obtained in treatments that incorporated creole mango. In general, there results suggest the use of mango fruit as an alternative the feeding resource in fattening rabbits.