Abstract:The aim of this study was to determine the effects of three levels (0, 3 and 6%) of tomato 14 (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) pomace (TP), included in isonitrogenous and isocaloric diets, on 15 the performances and in vivo apparent digestibility of growing rabbits. The growing trial, which 16 lasted 50 days, was carried out on 144 crossbred (Hycole x Grimaud) rabbits randomly divided into 17 three groups. Each rabbit was kept in an individual cage. The mean mortality was about 8%, and 18 there was no difference between the groups during the trial. The weight gain, feed consumption and 19 feed efficiency values did not differ significantly for the different dietary treatments, while the final 20 weight was higher in the rabbits fed the diet with 3% TP than in the control group. Ten animal per 21 groups (five males and five females) were also submitted to a digestibility trial. The faeces were 22 collected at the beginning of the second week of the growing trial with the animal at 46 days of age. 23No obvious health problems were encountered during the digestibility experiment. The measured 24 parameters were: digestibility of dry matter (DM), organic matter (OM), crude protein (CP), ether 25 3 extract (EE) and gross energy (GE). The rabbits fed diet with 0 and 3% TP showed higher apparent 1 digestibility coefficients than the rabbits fed a diet with 6% TP, with the exception of EE 2 digestibility, which resulted higher in the rabbits fed the 3% TP diet. Overall, dried tomato pomace 3 may be used satisfactorily as a nutrient supplement for rabbits at levels of up to 6% in diets. 4 5