Abstract

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Twenty weaned chinchilla rabbits of mixed sexes aged between 8 to 9 weeks were randomly allotted to five different dietary treatments with four rabbits per treatment. Each rabbit was used as a replicate. Three tropical grasses and leaves from two forage plants were used to prepare the test diets. The leaves were obtained from Myrianthus arboreus and Gmelina arborea; two common forages and the tropical grasses used include; Tridax procumbens, Pannicum maximum and Pennisetum purpureum. Parameters studied include average weekly feed intake, average weekly weight gain, feed conversion ratio and feed efficiency ratio. The study was carried out in the rabbit section of the Faculty of Agriculture Research and Teaching Farm of the Delta State University Asaba Campus, Delta State Nigeria, located at 6°14’N and 6°49’E. The forages were fed with a concentrate diet separately and the feeding ratio used was 2:1. Significance was reported at 5% level of probability and the means were separated using Duncan’s Multiple Range Test Procedure. Significant (P<0.05) differences were observed for all parameters measured between all the test materials. Variations in average feed intake and average weight gain were observed and values obtained were within the ranges of reported values.

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