Preliminary study: fibre content in pet rabbit diets, crude fibre versus total dietary fibre

Abstract

SummaryFibre is an important nutrient for rabbit health, and, on commercial pet rabbit packaging, it is labelled as crude fibre (CF). In several species, it is considered that CF is not an accurate representation of the fibre content in feedstuffs. The objective of this study was to compare the CF stated on the label (CFL) with laboratory analysis of CF (CFA) and the analysed content of total dietary fibre (TDF) in different commercial pet rabbit feeds. We selected 15 commercial diets and analysed CF and TDF. A mixed model was used to evaluate differences between CFL, CFA and TDF, and linear regression was performed to study the correlation between CFL and CFA with TDF. CFA and CFL were not significantly different (p = 0.836) in the feeds studied, and both were lower than TDF (p < 0.001). The correlations between TDF and both CFA and CFL were significant (p < 0.001 and p = 0.02, respectively), but the correlation was better with CFA (R = 0.86) than with CFL (R = 0.53). As expected, TDF content was higher than CF content, an average of two times. These results suggest that the CF content in rabbit diets reported on the label is not an appropriate indicator of their total fibre content, although further work with a larger sample size is required to confirm these results.

Si el conejo, Oryctolagus cuniculus, es monogástrico ¿Por qué es importante que consuma fibra?

“…El nivel de fibra en la dieta está expresado en términos de fibra detergente neutra (FDN), fibra detergente ácida (FDA) y fibra cruda, y el promedio sugerido es 33 %, 18 % y 13%, respectivamente (Tabla 1). Aunque la fibra cruda no es un indicador apropiado del nivel de fibra en la dieta para conejos (Molina et al 2015), el nivel mínimo de almidón y el máximo de fibra en la dieta (Tabla 1) son los recomendados para conejos jóvenes recién destetados y el nivel máximo de almidón y el mínimo de fibra para conejos adultos de más de 60 días de edad.…”

Prebiotics Inulin Metabolism by Lactic Acid Bacteria From Young Rabbits

“…Therefore, inulin has been regarded as a common prebiotic (11) that could selectively promote the growth of gut beneficial microbes such as lactic acid bacteria. In rabbit feeding, inulin has been proven useful as a natural additive in antibiotic-free rabbit diets; for instance, it is routinely added as an ingredient in commercial feed for pet rabbits (12). In addition, oligofructose is routinely added at the levels of 1-3 g/kg in European feeds to improve gut health and reduce the mortality of rabbits.…”