Effect of Caraway Seeds as Dietary Supplements on Growth Performance and Economic Efficiency of Growing Rabbits

Document Type : Original research paper

Authors

1 Tanta University Faculty of Agriculture Animal Production Dept.

2 Department of Poultry Production, Faculty of Agriculture, Tanta University, Tanta, Egypt

3 Animal Production Research Institute, egypt

Abstract

The present study was designed to investigate the effect of caraway seed powder level as a dietary supplement on the growth performance and economic efficiency of growing rabbits. A total of 160 five- weeks of age rabbits were divided and assigned randomly into four experimental groups of 40 rabbits in each. Rabbits in the 1st group were received the basal die without any supplements (control group). While those in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th groups were fed diet supplemented with 3, 5 or 7 g caraway seeds powder/ kg diet. All rabbits were kept under the same managerial conditions. Results showed that weekly body weight from the 7th week of age up to the end of the experimental period (12 weeks of age) significantly increased in all treatment groups (3, 5 and 7 g of caraway seeds powder/kg diet) as compared to the control group. Weekly feed intake (FI) was not significantly affected by supplementing caraway seeds powder in diets at all interval periods from 5 weeks of age up to 12 weeks of age. Weekly feed conversion ratio (FCR) was not significantly affected by supplementing caraway seeds powder in diets from 5 weeks of age until 12 weeks of age, except in the intermediate period of 6-7 and 5-12 weeks of age. During the whole experimental period (5-12 weeks of age), rabbits treated with 5 g of caraway seeds powder/kg diet had the best feed conversion ratio as compared to other treatments and the control. The best value of economic efficiency was found in the rabbits that received 3 and 5 g of caraway seeds powder/kg of diet (117.5 and 118.8%), followed by those that received 7 g of caraway seeds powder/kg of diet (109.1%), but the lowest value was recorded with those that received the control diet (108.8%).In summary, adding caraway seeds powder to the diet up to 5 g/kg diet of growing rabbits enhances their growth performance and economic efficiency under Egyptian environmental conditions

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