Evaluation of the Carcass Yield of Rabbits in Farms in Southern Benin Carcass Yield of Rabbit

摘要

The carcass yield of 60 rabbits (30♂ and 30♀) with an average age of 105 days were evaluated in December 2012 at the breeding farm “CeTAVI? located in the town of Abomey-calavi Southeast of Benin. The animals are housed in groups of six in wire cages with 80 by 40 cm floor size. They are all from local strain parents. The feed consisting of different types of roughage and concentrate presented in floury form is served at will. Drinking water is served without restriction to all animals. The slaughter of animals took place early in the morning after 12 h of fasting. The rabbits were bled after being stunned with a wooden club at the occipital region. The average live weight at slaughter was 1503.28 and 1450.96 g, respectively for males and females with no significant weight difference (p>0.05) between the 2 sexes. The average weights of hot carcasses and carcass average yields were, respectively 890.64 g and 61.34% for males and 928.90 g and 61.74% for females. No significant difference (p>0.05) was observed between individuals from different litter size or parturition ranks.