M. KALYANA CHAKRAVARTHI*, T. VENKATA PAVAN, V. SREEKAR, A. KRISHNAMURTHY, C. ANIL KUMAR, K. SUDHEER AND S. MOISE
Livestock Farm Complex, College of Veterinary Science, Proddatur
Sri Venkateswara Veterinary University, Tirupati (Andhra Pradesh), India
*(e-mail : vetkalyan@gmail.com)
(Received : 3 August 2020; Accepted : 5 December 2020)
SUMMARY
The objective of the study was to assess the effect of dietary incorporation of hydroponics maize fodder as a replacement of concentrate mixture on the growth performance of New Zealand White rabbits. The study was conducted at Livestock Farm Complex, College of Veterinary Science, Proddatur wherein 18 weaned rabbits were allotted randomly into 3 groups with each group consisting of 6 rabbits, namely control (100 % concentrate mixture), treatment-1 (100 % hydroponic maize fodder), treatment-2 (50 % concentrates and 50 % hydroponic fodder) groups in a completely randomized design. Feed intake of all rabbits were recorded daily, where as the body weights were recorded at weekly interval. Growth parameters such as body weight (g), body weight gain/week (g), average daily gain (g), dry matter intake (g), feed efficiency and economics such as the cost of feeding /animal and cost of feeding/g body weight in these 3 groups were studied. Treatment -2 comprising of 50 % replacement of concentrates with 50 % hydroponics maize fodder has shown significant increase in body weight gain/week (93.13±6.04g), average daily gain (13.30±0.86g) when compared to treatment-1 and control group and decrease in dry matter intake (31.79±0.39g) when compared with control group. Cost of feeding /animal/70 days (39.72 INR) and Cost of feeding/g body weight (0.04 INR ) was found to be lower in treatment-1 when compared with treatment-2 and control group.
Key words:Hydroponic maize fodder, New Zealand White rabbit, growth performance