ABSTRACT
The effects of replacing groundnut cake (GNC) with urea-treated and fermented brewer’s dried grains in weaner-rabbits diets were investigated. Urea-treated and fermented brewer’s dried grains were used to replace GNC at 0, 25, 50, 75 and 100% levels in weaner rabbit diets. Diets were formulated to be isonitrogenous and isocaloric to provide 18% crude protein and 2600 kcal/kg metabolizable energy. Thirty eight-weeks old weaner rabbits of mixed breeds and sexes were randomly allocated to five treatment groups on equal weight and sex basis made up of two rabbits per replicate and six rabbits per treatment and fed ad libitum in hutches for ten weeks. Significant (P<0.05) differences were observed in final body weight, daily body weight gain, feed intake, feed conversion ratio, carcass and organ weights for all treatment groups. Cost reduction and savings were better with 50% urea-treated and fermented BDG diet. Mortality level (3-7%) was normal and evenly spread across treatment groups. |
KEYWORDS: |
Urea-treated, fermentation, brewer’s dried grains, groundnut cake, weaner-rabbits. |
