
	Asian Journal of Animal and Veterinary Advances
	Year: 2017 \| Volume: 12 \| Issue: 2 \| Page No.: 71-79 DOI: 10.3923/ajava.2017.71.79

Efficiency of Utilization of Sugar Beet Tops Hay and Prebiotic in Diets of Growing Rabbits

Hayam M.A. Abo EL-Maaty, Sara Kh. Sherif and Lina S.A. Foda

Abstract: Background: The challenge for the feed formulation is to obtain the least cost diets that fully match the animal requirements. In Egypt, large amounts of sugar beet tops are produced. Using such an agricultural by-product as a feed ingredient for fattening rabbits can participate in solving the problem of feedstuffs’ shortage and reduce the environmental pollution. Materials and Methods: A factorial experiment (3×2) was carried out to investigate the potential of including Sugar Beet Tops (SBT) in diets of growing New Zealand white rabbits at three levels (0.0, 20 and 30%) as a substitute for alfalfa hay in presence (1.0 g kg^–1) or absence of a prebiotic. Fifty four rabbits were randomly distributed to six groups, each with three replications. Six experimental diets were formulated and fed to rabbits from 6-12 weeks of age. All rabbits were reared under similar hygienic and managerial conditions. The response of rabbits was evaluated as growth performance, carcass characteristics and blood plasma constituents. Results: Replacing dietary alfalfa hay with SBT produced positive effects on growth performance of rabbits although feed intake was higher than that of the control group, irrespective of the added prebiotic. Similarly, rabbits fed the prebiotic-supplemented diets displayed superior growth performance to that of the control group. Apart from prebiotic addition, feeding the SBT-diets significantly increased Carcass Yield (CY) and Total Edible Parts (TEP) but reduced the Abdominal Fat (AF) of rabbits. Dietary prebiotic supplementation caused positive effects on the percentages of CY, TEP and AF weight of rabbits. Neither dietary SBT level nor added probiotic adversely affected the blood plasma constituents measured herein. Dietary SBT level by added prebiotic interactions were not significant for all criteria measured. Conclusion: It is concluded that SBT can completely replace alfalfa hay in growing rabbits’ diets with better performance and carcass traits, prebiotic performs further improvements in rabbit growth, feed conversion and dressing-out percentage.

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How to cite this article:

Hayam M.A. Abo EL-Maaty, Sara Kh. Sherif and Lina S.A. Foda, 2017. Efficiency of Utilization of Sugar Beet Tops Hay and Prebiotic in Diets of Growing Rabbits. Asian Journal of Animal and Veterinary Advances, 12: 71-79.

DOI: 10.3923/ajava.2017.71.79

URL: https://scialert.net/abstract/?doi=ajava.2017.71.79

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