Effect of paddy rice on growth performance of rabbits fed water spinach as the sole forage or combined with leaves of water hyacinth

摘要

Weanedcrossbredrabbits(n=30)wereallocatedtoa2*5factorialdesign,tocompare:(i)waterspinach(WS)astheonlyfoliage,orofferedat50%ofobservedintakeintreatmentWSwithadlibitumwaterhyacinthnbsp;leaves(WHL);nbsp;and(ii)levelsofpaddyrice(PR)ofnbsp;0,5,10,20or35g/day.nbsp;nbsp;TherewerelinearincreasesingrowthrateonWSandWHLtreatmentsastheofferlevelofpaddyricewasincreasedupto20g/day,withnofurtherincreaseatthe35g/daylevel.Atalllevelsofpaddyricethegrowthratesonwaterspinachasthesoleforagewerealmostdoublethosewhenthewaterspinachwasrestrictedandwaterhyacinthleaveswerefedadlibitum.nbsp;Therewereimprovementsinfeedconversionasthelevelofpaddyricewasincreased,andpoorerresultswhenwaterhyacinthleavesreplaced50%ofthewaterspinach.