Abstract

Sixty 7-week-old New Zealand White rabbits were randomly distributed into 5 equal experimental groups. The experimental rabbits were fed the tested diets till 14 weeks of age during summer season. The basal diet without feed additives (control; T1) and the other experimental diets were supplemented with enzymes at 0.5 g/kg (T2), organic acids at 1.0 g/kg (T3), Beta-pro at 0.2 g/kg (T4) or their combination (T5). The criteria of response were body weight, weight gain, feed consumption, feed conversion ratio, some blood constituents, carcass traits and economic efficiency. The obtained results can be summarized as follows: Positive effects of feed additives were observed on live body weight, daily weight gain and feed conversion of growing rabbits. There were no significant effects on blood parameters or carcass traits due to feed additives. It can be concluded that dietary Beta-pro (enzymes+probiotics) or a combination of enzymes, organic acids and Beta-pro at the tested levels can be used to improve the rabbit performance, with no adverse effects on carcass characteristics or blood parameters.

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