Reproductive performance of rabbit does fed diets based on Leucaena leucocephala

• Ana T. Rivera ^[1] ; Ernesto Riquelme Villagrán ^[1] ; John Fernandez ^[1]
  1. [1] University of Puerto Rico System

     University of Puerto Rico System

     Puerto Rico

     
• Localización: Archivos Latinoamericanos de Producción Animal, ISSN 1022-1301, ISSN-e 1022-1301, Vol. 1, Nº. 2, 1993
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • Forty does were utilized to study the effects of the inclusion of native leucaena leaf meal (LLM, 3.87 % mimosine) in the diet on ovulation, fertilization, implantation, litter size, litter weight and weaning weights. The basal diet (L-0) was a commercial type diet (17 % protein, 16 % fiber, 3.0 Mcal DE/kg) and contained 50 % ground grass hay. LLM was included at 25 (L-25) or 50 (L-50) % of the dry matter, substituting the grass hay. A fourth treatment was included which consisted of supplementing the L-50 diet with 0.6 % ferrous sulfate (L-50-S). The does distributed in individual cages and were fed the experimental diets (L-0, L-25, L-50 and L-50-S) and the breeding started three weeks later. At seven and fourteen days after breeding, three does out of each group were slaughtered and the weight of the ovaries (0W]] and the number of corpora lutea (CL) and implantations (IMP) were recorded. The rest of the does were allowed to reach term and litter sizes (LZ), birth weight (BWT) and weaning weight (WWT) were determined. There were significant treatment effects (P