BREEDING AND EFFICIENCY OF FEED UTILIZATION IN DIALLELCROSSED RABBITS FED DRIED COCOYAM (Colocasia esculenta) PEEL MEAL IN A HUMID CLIMATE

Abstract

The study on breeding and efficiency of feed utilization was conducted using four rabbit strains; the New Zealand White (NZW), the Chinchilla (CHL), New Zealand Red (NZR), and the FCEABK-? (K-?), a newly developed rabbit strains through 4x4 di-allele crossbreeding experiment that generated 16 genotypes involving 4 straight bred and 12 crossbreds respectively. The performance of these rabbit strains was monitored to evaluate sire’s feed intake and feed efficiency traits on average kit weight (AKW) at weaning and post-weaning age. The effect of feed intake and feed efficiency on production parameters of rabbit strains was estimated from two-way analysis of variance with sub-samples using General Linear Model of SAS (2019). The results indicated that effect of feed intake and feed efficiency on production traits varied with age, among the rabbit genetic groups due to variation in their genetic makeup. Recommendations were therefore made among others that variations that existed in this rabbit population should be thoroughly exploited through crossbreeding and selection programmes. This is desirable to take advantage of heterosis in enhancing numerical feed efficiency. The study therefore underscored the importance of feed efficiency on productive potentials in rabbits, which is a better tool of enhancing the genetic potentials of rabbitsas a sustainable pathway to addressing the challenges of climate change in animal agriculture in Nigeria.