Effect of sweet potato vines on performance parameters and some carcass characteristics of rabbits

Abstract

SummaryConventional feedstuffs in Brazil are expensive, which has led to the search for less conventional cheaper and locally available feedstuffs. Thus, this study was carried out to determine the dietary effect of dry sweet potato vines (SPV) on the performance and some carcass characteristics of rabbits. A total of twenty-seven weaned White New Zealand rabbits (14 male and 13 female) 35 days old with an average initial weight of 755 g were allocated into three treatments. Nine rabbits were assigned to each treatment in a completely randomized design. Three diets were formulated to similar protein and energy levels: 0SPV -diet without inclusion of dry sweet potato vines; 10SPV -diet with 10% alfalfa hay replaced by dry sweet potato vines; and 15SPV -diet with 15% of alfalfa hay replaced by dry sweet potato vines. The experiment lasted for 49 days during which data for feed intake and body weight were recorded. The daily feed intake ranged from 73.17 to 78.02 g; daily weight gain from 22.32 to 23.17 g; feed conversion ratio (FCR) from 3.16 to 3.49 and final live weight ranged from 1839.44 to 1880.55 g. None of the evaluated performance parameters as well as carcass weight, heart weight and percentages of fat and protein in meat were significantly affected by any of the tested dietary treatments. However, the liver weight was statistically lower in animals fed the diets containing 10% of SPV, mainly due to lower glucose content. Glycogen within the tissue, did not differ significantly among treatments. It was therefore concluded that up to 15% of SPV can successfully be included in the diet of rabbits as a cheaper replacement for alfalfa hay without adversely affecting performance.

Investigation of Availability of Dried Mulberry Pomace Instead of Barley for Ruminants

“…Despite many advantages of ruminant anatomical features and digestive physiology, the use of many agro-industrial by-products that have valuable nutritional value(s) as an alternative feed source is quite limited. Since the use of alternative feed sources may provide for a cost benefit in livestock production industry, it has been prominently attractive to determine their nutritional values for animal species among animal nutrition specialists (Klinger 2017).…”

Can banana peel and sweet potato vines have efficient in diets for growing rabbits?

“…They checked similar nutritional quality, which indicates that BP does not change carcass mass and yield, nor percentage of meat protein. Also, Klinger et al (2017), evaluating the carcass of rabbits fed with different levels (10% and 15%) of SPV used as alfalfa hay substitute found that the treatments did not alter the weight of the carcass or percentages of fat and protein in meat.…”

Potencial produtivo de cultivares de batata-doce na zona da mata de Pernambuco

“…Considerada uma cultura de importância social, por possuir alto teor nutritivo e de custo baixo (Vargas et al, 2018), a batata-doce era consumida por populações de menor renda, porém observa-se o consumo crescente por pessoas com maior poder aquisitivo, devido ao conhecimento dos aspectos nutricionais favoráveis, assim como maior diversidade de produtos encontrados a partir da batata-doce (Wadl et al, 2018;Campos;Pilon;Melo, 2021). Apesar das raízes serem a principal parte econômica da planta, nas folhas, podem-se encontrar compostos interessantes como; proteínas, fibras, carboidratos, vitaminas A, C e minerais porém também são encontrados baixos níveis de compostos tóxicos, como ácido fítico, cianeto, taninos e oxalato (Mohanraj;Sivasankar, 2014), na forma de silagem, a parte aérea é um complemento à alimentação animal, não comprometendo o desenvolvimento e a saúde destes (Klinger, et al, 2017;Klinger, et al, 2020;Sun et al, 2022).…”