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116234

CHARACTERIZATION OF LITTER MORTALITY IN STRAIGHTBRED NEW ZEALAND WHITE RABBITS

Article

Last updated: 25 Dec 2024

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Subjects

-

Tags

Animal Hygiene, Husbandry, Production, Genetics, Economics, Nutrition and Food Control.

Abstract

Eight hundred sixty six kits of 104 New Zealand White litters were studied for the rate of stillbirth, within litter mortality (M) between birth and day 21 of age (M0-21) where kits rely solely on milk, day 22 to weaning (M22-28) and postweaning to marketing (M29–70). Overall least squares means were 6.96% (stillbirth), 10.62% (M0-21), 0.55% (M22-28) and 3.08% (M29-70). In 30.77% of litters, all kits survived to marketing. Dead kits at birth and those died within the first week of age had significantly (P 60g). Kit survival pre- (M0-21) and postweaning (M29-70) was better when their does gained > 250 g bwt during the first three weeks post-kindling compared to dams losing bwt or gaining < 250 g. The rate of stillbirth increased (P = 0.06) with longer gestation periods. M0-21 was higher (14.39 vs 6.86%, P< 0.05) in large litters (≥ 9 alive kits vs < 9 kits). Summer and spring born litters experienced higher (P<0.05) M0-21 (14.98 and 14.27%) than autumn (7.42%) and winter (5.81%) born ones. Parity affected only stillbirth (P<0.05) with litters of the 1st, 2nd and ≥ 3rd orders lost 5.83, 4.98 and 10.07% of their kits at birth, respectively. Repeatability estimates were generally low (0.00 to 0.07) except for a moderate value of 0.31 for M0-21. It could be concluded that stillbirth and M0-21 are the major components of kit losses. Small kit size, dam bwt loss or low bwt gain during the first three weeks postnatal, large litters, summer and spring kindlings, and 3rd or higher kindling orders reduced kit survival, particularly at birth and during the first three weeks of age.

DOI

10.21608/kvmj.2008.116234

Keywords

Rabbits, mortality, kit weight, doe body weight, litter size, season, parity, gestation length

Authors

First Name

M.M.A.

Last Name

Elmaghraby

MiddleName

-

Affiliation

Animal Breeding and Production, Fac. Vet. Med., Alex. Univ., Edfina

Email

-

City

-

Orcid

-

First Name

S.Z.

Last Name

Elkholya

MiddleName

-

Affiliation

Animal and Poultry Behavior and Management, Fac. Vet. Med., Alex. Univ., Bostan Branch

Email

-

City

-

Orcid

-

Volume

6

Article Issue

2

Related Issue

16825

Issue Date

2008-10-01

Receive Date

2008-07-01

Publish Date

2008-10-01

Page Start

210

Page End

228

Print ISSN

1687-1456

Online ISSN

2682-2954

Article File

KVMJ_Volume 6_Issue 2_Pages 210-228.pdf

PDF . 806.7kB

Link

https://kvmj.journals.ekb.eg/article_116234.html

Detail API

https://kvmj.journals.ekb.eg/service?article_code=116234

Order

10

Type

Original Article

Type Code

1,064

Publication Type

Journal

Publication Title

Kafrelsheikh Veterinary Medical Journal

Publication Link

https://kvmj.journals.ekb.eg/

MainTitle

CHARACTERIZATION OF LITTER MORTALITY IN STRAIGHTBRED NEW ZEALAND WHITE RABBITS

Details

Type

Article

Created At

22 Jan 2023