Resumen

LEYVA, Coralia S; VALDIVIE, M  y  ORTIZ, A. Utilization of fruit and leaf meals from breadfruit tree (Artocarpus altilis) for fattening New Zealand White rabbits. Pastos y Forrajes [online]. 2012, vol.35, n.4, pp. 443-451. ISSN 0864-0394.

Thirty-six New Zealand White rabbits, 35 days old and with 506 g of live weight were used, in order to evaluate the effects of three diets on the productive and economic indicators of the animals during fattening. The diets consisted in: 1) commercial concentrate feed plus fresh forage of perennial soybean (Neonotonia wightií), as control; 2) breadfruit (Artocarpus altilis) meal plus perennial soybean and 3) integral concentrate feed composed by a mixture of fruit and leaf meal from the breadfruit tree, plus vitamins and minerals. A variance analysis was used according to a completely randomized design with three treatments and four repetitions. After 90 days of fattening, the live weight at slaughter was 2 347, 2 223 and 2 127 g/rabbit, respectively, the average gain was 20, 19 and 18 g/day and viability was 100% in all treatments. Economically, the concentrate feed balanced with fruit and leaf meal from the breadfruit tree had a profit of US $1,05/fattened rabbit, the feeding system with breadfruit meal plus perennial soybean foliage earned US $0,89/fattened rabbit, while the control system generated economic losses, due to the high costs of raw materials that composed the conventional concentrate feed. It is concluded that alternative feeding systems which use fruit and leaf meal from the breadfruit tree are economically and biologically suitable for fattening rabbits

Palabras clave : feeding; Artocarpus altilis; rabbit; Neonotonia wightii.

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