White lupin bran and its effects on the growth performance, carcass characteristics and digestibility of nutrients in fattening rabbits

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the effects of including white lupin bran (WLB) in a fattening rabbit diet on growth, carcass traits and nutrient digestibility. The C diet (control) based on alfalfa meal, whereas the WLB 5 and WLB 15 diets were based on white lupin bran (crude protein 152 g/kg, neutral detergent fibre 524 g/kg as-fed basis). The WLB 5 diet contained 50 g of white lupin bran/kg instead of 50 g of alfalfa meal/kg, whereas the WLB 15 diet contained 150 g of white lupin bran/kg, 5 g of soybean meal/kg and 10 g of sugar beet pulp/kg instead of 165 g of alfalfa meal/kg. The diets had similar digestible protein/digestible energy ratios. A total of 150 Hyplus rabbits between the ages of 30 to 73 d were randomly allocated into one of 3 groups and fed one of the 3 experimental diets. Additionally, another 30 Hyplus rabbits (10 per dietary treatment) at the age of 30 d were selected to determine coefficients of total tract apparent digestibility (CTTAD) of diets between 63 and 67 d of age. The dietary treatments did not affect the final live weight of rabbits (mean=2969 g). There was a higher feed intake (+30 g/d; P<0.001) in both groups of rabbits fed the WLB 5 and WLB 15 diets compared to rabbits fed the C diet, which led to impaired feed conversion ratios (P<0.001). Sanitary risk index was not affected by dietary treatment. The rabbits fed the WLB 15 diet exhibited a higher drip loss percentage (+0.65%; P<0.001) than the rabbits fed the other diets, as well as a lower dressing-out percentage (by 1.6%; P=0.024). The CTTAD of the lignocellulose fraction (acid detergent fibre) was significantly higher in rabbits fed the WLB 5 and WLB 15 diets than in those fed the C diet. White lupin bran may be used as a dietary fibrous by-product without significant impairment of the nutritive value of the diet. This lupin by-product can be included in diets for fattening rabbits up to 15% as a partial replacement of alfalfa meal.

Growth Performance, Nutrients Digestibility and Carcass Measurements of Growing Rabbits Fed Diets Incorporated With Lentil or Chickpea Screening by-Products.

“…It is well known that feed costs could be minimized by using cheaper and non-traditional feed ingredients. Furthermore, possible effects on animal growth performance must also be evaluated (De Blas et al, 2018 andUhlířová et al, 2018). Effective utilization of available feed resources is the key to economical livestock rearing (Beigh et al, 2017 andMudgal et al, 2018).…”

“…The rising prices of feed ingredients frequently used in animal feeding has led to the evaluation of alternative and less costly ingredients, as feeds which can be accounted for up to 70% of the total costs of rabbit production (Gidenne et al, 2017). Therefore, it could be argued that feed costs could be minimized by using cheaper, non-traditional feed ingredients (de Blas et al, 2018 andUhlířová et al, 2018). The chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) and lentil (Lens culinaris L.) are cultivated for their edible seeds, they are the major legumes in the Mediterranean Basin.…”

Effect of cowpea (Vigna Unguiculata (L.) Walp) Stover dietary inclusion level on total tract apparent digestibility of nutrients in growing rabbits

“…AOAC (1990) procedures were used to determine dry matter, (DM; 934.01), organic matter (OM; 942.05), crude protein (CP; 954.01), crude fibre (962.09) and ether extract (920.39). Neutral detergent fibre (NDF), acid detergent fibre (ADF) and lignin fractions were obtained by the detergent methodologies without the use of sodium sulphite and expressed exclusive of ash (Robertson and Van Soest, 1981;Van Soest et al, 1991). The acid detergent-insoluble nitrogen (ADIN) was determined according to Goering and Van Soest (1990).…”

“…However, the rising prices of ingredients frequently used in animal feeding has led to the evaluation of alternative and less costly ingredients, as feed can account for up to 70% of the total costs of rabbit production (Gidenne et al, 2017). Although it could be argued that feed costs could be minimised by using cheaper, nontraditional feed ingredients, the inclusion of these feed resources is limited, as most of the times data on their nutritive value are scarce and highly variable (Lima et al, 2017;de Blas et al, 2018;Uhlířová et al, 2018). Furthermore, possible effects on animal growth performance must also be evaluated.…”

Dietary Inclusion of Crickets (Acheta domesticus) and Yellow Mealworm Meal (Tenebrio molitor) in Comparison with Soybean Meal: Effect on the Growth, Total Tract Apparent Digestibility, and Nitrogen Balance of Fattening Rabbits

“…As far as the dietary utilization of byproducts in rabbits is concerned, a list of different products from agro-industrial processes may be drafted. It has been reported that coproducts, such as wheat bran [7], sugar beet pulp [8], sunflower hulls [9], soybean hulls [10], lupine hulls [11], lupine bran [12], soybean meal and sunflower meal [13], rapeseed meal [14], distillers dried grains with solubles [15], dried brewers' grains [16], coproducts from olive cake [17], citrus coproducts [18], and defatted grape seed meal [19], can be suitable diet components for rabbits.…”