Growth performance, nutrient utilization and carcass characteristics of rabbits on probiotic supplementation

An experiment was conducted to study the effects of probiotic supplementation on growth, nutrient utilization and carcass traits in rabbits. Atotal of 60 weaner (28 days-old) Soviet Chinchilla rabbits were divided in four groups of 15 each. Pellet feed was supplemented with live microbial cultures of Lactobacillus plantarum (LP), Saccharomyces cerevisiae (SC) and combination of both L. plantarum + S. cerevisiae (LP+SC), whereas control group was supplemented with equal amount of culture medium. The rabbits were fed ad libitum pellet feed up to 84 days of age. The microbial population in feed pellets was 10⁶ Cfu/g pellet feed. Body weight gain (28 to 84 days) was significantly (p<0.05) higher in LP+SC (1837 g) than control (1751 g), LP (1751 g) and SC (1774 g) groups. Higher digestibility of acid detergent fibre and cellulose was also recorded in LP+SC (14.6 and 22.4%) than LP (11.6 and 19.7%) and SC (11.3 and 18.8%). Carcass characteristics were not influenced in all the four treatment groups. The study suggested that supplementation of SC in feed pellets improved body weight gain in rabbits.