Fibra digeribile e fonte proteica nell’alimentazione del coniglio in accrescimento

To evaluate the effect of digestible fibre (DF) (1.0, 1.1, and 1.2) and protein source (soybean and sunflower meals) on health status, digestive physiology, growth performance, and carcass traits, 216 rabbits were fed from 34 d until slaughter (76 d) six diets formulated according to a bi-factorial arrangement (3 DF to ADF ratios by 2 protein sources). Health status was good in all experimental groups. Increasing DF to ADF ratio increased dry matter digestibility (55.4 to 58.3 to 61.3%; P<0.001) and improved feed conversion (3.56 to 3.42 to 3.31; P<0.001) without affecting caecal fermentation, carcass traits and meat quality. Sunflower meal was proved to be a protein source suitable to fully replace soybean meal in growing rabbit feeding.