EFFECT OF SEX AND FEED FREQUENCY ON GROWING CALIFORNIA RABBITS, CARCASS CHARACTERISTICS AND MEAT QUALITY | ||
| Egyptian Poultry Science Journal | ||
| Article 5, Volume 40, Issue 2, June 2020, Pages 405-419 PDF (731.41 K) | ||
| Document Type: Original Article | ||
| DOI: 10.21608/epsj.2020.95721 | ||
| Authors | ||
| Ahmed M. A. Hussein1; M. G. Abd El-Fattah2 | ||
| 1Animal Production, Faculty of Agriculture, Assuit University, Assuit, Egypt | ||
| 22Dep. of Poul. Prod., Fac. of Agric., Assiut Uni., Asyut 71526, Egypt. | ||
| Abstract | ||
| The current study aimed to investigate the effect of increasing feed frequency as a managerial method for both males and females’ California rabbits on growth performance, carcass characteristics and meat quality. Thirty-six males and Thirty-six females of six-week-old were used. Both males and females were divided into three treatments. The first treatment (once) feed was offered once a day at 8 am second treatment (twice) feed was offered twice a day 8 am and 4 pm and third treatment (thrice) feed was offered three times a day at 6 am 12 pm and 6 pm. Growth performance measurements were recorded daily (Feed intake, body weight, daily gain and feed conversion ratio). At the end of experiment (8 weeks) all rabbits (males and females) were slaughtered after 8 hours of fasting. Carcass weight, carcass parts and individual muscles weight were recorded. The current study showed that, feed frequency significantly (P<0.001) improved feed intake in both males and females. Subsequently, increasing number of feeding increased (P<0.01) final weight, total gain and average daily gain, without any effect on feed conversion ratio in both males and females. Moreover, increased body weight of males and females fed more than one time a day resulted in an increase (P<0.01) in carcass weight and carcass parts. In addition, increased feed frequency decreased (P<0.05) carcass’s fat. The current study showed that increasing feed frequency in both males and females improved rabbits’ performance, carcass characteristics and meat quality. | ||
| Keywords | ||
| feed frequency; sex; carcass characteristics; performance; meat quality | ||
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