Yam (Discorea rotundata) Peel Meal in the Diet of Weaner Rabbits: Effects on Growth Performance, Carcass Characteristics and Economics of Feeding

Twenty weaner mongrel rabbits with an average initial weight of 0.62 kg were used to determine the effect of varying levels of sun-dried yam peel meal (YPM) as source of fibre on growth performance, carcass characteristics and economics of production. The rabbits were randomly allotted to five diets with sun-dried YPM replacing wheat offal (WO) at 0 (T₀), 25 (T₁), 50 (T₂), 75 (T₃) and 100% (T₄) level. The final live weight of rabbits were higher (P<0.01) in group T₁. The feed conversion ratio and feed efficiency were favourably comparable among the treatments. There was significant difference (P<0.05) in the daily feed intake and daily weight gain between the diets with rabbits on T₁ compared to others. The weight of organ expressed as a percentage of live weight did not show any difference among the treatments except the carcass weight which showed a significant (P<0.01) difference with T₀ and T₁ recording higher values. The cost (N/kg gain) was the highest on diet 1 (no YPM) and lowest in group T₅. The results indicated that yam peel meal can be used economically to replace wheat offal upto 50% in the diet of weaner rabbits with good performance.