Water spinach (Ipomoea aquatica) and Stylo 184 (Stylosanthes guianensis CIAT 184) as basal diets for growing rabbits

摘要

Twoexperimentswerecarriedouttoevaluatefreshwaterspinach(Experiment1inAnGiangUniversity,Vietnam)andstylo184(Experiment2intheLivestockResearchCentreinLao)asbasaldietsforgrowingrabbits.Ineachexperimentgradedlevelsofbrokenricewereusedassupplements(0,5,10,15and20g/rabbitperdayinExperiment1and0,4,8and12g/dayinExperiment2).Growthratesonwaterspinachrangedfrom18to23g/dayandDMfeedconversionfromrates1.61to2.65,andwerenotaffectedbythelevelofbrokenrice.nbsp;DMdigestibilitycoefficientsdeterminedbytheinsolubleashtechniquerangedfrom84.7to89.3%andwerenotaffectedbylevelofbrokenrice.Therabbitspreferentiallyselectedtheleavesofthewaterspinach(70%ofleafDMconsumedcomparedwith50%inthefoliageoffered).Levelsofshortchainfattyacidinthefacesincreasedwithlevelofbrokenrice,implyingthatgastricdigestionofstarchinthestomachwasincomplete.PerformanceonStylo184asthebasaldietwasmuchpoorerwithgrowthratesrangingfrom5.54to6.67g/dayandDMfeedconversionfrom15.1to19.8.Waterspinachastheonlysourceoffeedforgrowingrabbitsappearstosupportacceptablegrowthratesofcloseto20g/daywithaDMfeedconversionof2.7.nbsp;Thissimplefeedingsystemmaybeattractiveforsmall-holderfarmersinthetropics,duetothepossibilitytoraiserabbitswithalocalresource(waterspinach)thatiseasytogrowandneedsnoprocessing.