Fiber sources of proteic agricultural co-products for growing rabbits

The objective of this paper was to study the influence of fiber fractions from different sources (alfalfa hay, linseed bran and corn gluten meal) on performance, digestibility coefficients and meat characteristics of growing rabbits. The animals were distributed into a completely randomized design with three treatments and eight replications, with one reference and two test diets: AH-control diet, with alfalfa hay; LB- total substitution of alfalfa hay by linseed bran and GM-total substitution of alfalfa hay by corn gluten meal. The data were submitted to variance analysis and the averages were compared by Duncan test (P < .05). The largest amount of hemicellulose and the low hydration capacity of the diets AF and GM proportioned greater animals live weight at 89 days of age (2123 and 1934 g, respectively) versus 1797 g of the animals fed with the diet LB and better digestibility coeficients of DM and OM (average of 80.80 for DM and 81.76% for OM, respectively) in relation to diet LB (73.86 and 75.84%, respectively). The diet GM showed a higher digestibility coefficient of NDF (56.59%) against the average of 33.11% for the other diets. The shear force was lower for meat from animals fed with AH and GM (1.90 and 1.63 kgf) compared to LB (2.33 kgf) (P < .05), which indicates meat tenderness. The corn gluten meal proportioned live weight to the animals at 89 days of age similar to the alfalfa hay. The linseed bran, due to large amount of soluble fiber and high hydration capacity, impaired animal performance and meat tenderness.