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28437

Effect of Cage Floor Type on Behaviour, Performance and Carcass Traits of Growing Rabbits

Article

Last updated: 22 Jan 2023

Subjects

-

Tags

Animal Health, Nutrition and Food Control (Veterinary Public Health, Animal Wealth Development, Animal Nutrition, Zoonoses, Food Control)

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of cage floor type on different behavioural patterns, productive performance and carcass traits of growing rabbits. Twenty seven non sexed weanling growing New Zealand rabbits (4-5weeks of age) were used in this experiment. The animals were randomly divided into three groups of 9 rabbits according to the kind of cage floor. The first group was reared on wire mesh cage floor. While, the second group was reared on plastic hollow mat and the third one was on rubber hollow mat. A focal sample technique was used for recording the behavioural patterns throughout the experimental period (6 weeks). Rabbits were individually weighed at the commencement of the experiment and at weekly intervals along the experimental period. The feed consumption throughout the experiment was recorded weekly. The results revealed that the cage floor type had an effect on the drinking, aggression and abnormal behaviour time, but did not influence any other behaviours (feeding, ceacotrophy, comfort, social, resting and locomotion). The kind of cage floor had no impact on feed consumption, body weight, relative growth rate and carcass traits. While body weight gain, feed conversion ratio and feed efficiency were significantly better in the group reared on plastic cage floor (26.46±1.45g/day, 3.78±0.22 and 0.277±0.004, respectively). Cortisol level was significantly higher in wire caged rabbits than those reared on rubber and plastic cage floor (0.65±0.72 µg/dl vs 0.45±0.38 µg/dl and 0.37±0.12 µg/dl, respectively). It could be concluded that the application of rubber or plastic mat on the floor of wire cage reduced the aggressive and abnormal behaviour with lower cortisol level and improved growing rabbit productivity and potentially welfare.

DOI

10.21608/zvjz.2015.28437

Keywords

Rabbits, Cage, floor, behaviour, productive, performance

Authors

First Name

Heba

Last Name

Gharib

MiddleName

S.A.

Affiliation

Veterinary Public Health Department, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Zagazig University, 44511, Egypt

Email

dr_heba_vet@yahoo.com

City

-

Orcid

-

First Name

Nawar

Last Name

Khattab

MiddleName

A.

Affiliation

Veterinary Public Health Department, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Zagazig University, 44511, Egypt

Email

nawarkhattab@yahoo.com

City

-

Orcid

-

First Name

Mohamed

Last Name

Youssef

MiddleName

Y.I.

Affiliation

Veterinary Public Health Department, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Zagazig University, 44511, Egypt

Email

-

City

-

Orcid

-

First Name

Al Sadik

Last Name

Saleem

MiddleName

K. Y.

Affiliation

Veterinary Public Health Department, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Zagazig University, 44511, Egypt

Email

-

City

-

Orcid

-

First Name

Hesham

Last Name

Mohammed

MiddleName

H.

Affiliation

Veterinary Public Health Department, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Zagazig University, 44511, Egypt

Email

-

City

-

Orcid

-

Volume

43

Article Issue

3

Related Issue

5075

Issue Date

2015-12-01

Receive Date

2019-03-07

Publish Date

2015-12-01

Page Start

10

Page End

19

Print ISSN

1110-1458

Online ISSN

2357-075X

Link

https://zvjz.journals.ekb.eg/article_28437.html

Detail API

https://zvjz.journals.ekb.eg/service?article_code=28437

Order

2

Type

Original Article

Type Code

601

Publication Type

Journal

Publication Title

Zagazig Veterinary Journal

Publication Link

https://zvjz.journals.ekb.eg/

MainTitle

-

Details

Type

Article

Created At

22 Jan 2023