Effect of replacing maize with composite cassava meal (CCM) on growth and economics performance of rabbit

A 91 day feeding trial was conducted using twenty (20) weaned heterogeneous breed rabbits of both sexes with initial weight of 225g–500g to evaluate the replacement value of maize for composite cassava meal (CCM) in diet. Five experimental diets were formulated such that the control diet represented as treatment 1(T1) contained 100% maize as the major energy source in the diet. CCM replaced 25, 50, 75 and 100% of maize in the other treatments (T2, T3, T4 and T5 respectively). The rabbits were divided into five treatments of four rabbits each and randomly assigned to the five diets in a completely randomized design with each rabbit serving as replicate. Data collected included weight gain and feed intake, while feed conversion ratio and economics of production were computed. The result revealed that the crude protein (17.78-16.26%) and ether extract (6.79-5.93) content of the diet decreases as level of CCM increased in the diets while crude fibre (12.67-13.88%) content increased with increased level of CCM in the diet. The nutrient compositions of the experimental diets were within acceptable ranges for growing rabbits. The final weight and the total weight gain were not affected by treatment but feed intake significantly increased as the level of replacement increased indicating enhanced acceptability due to CCM in diet. Daily weight gain was also enhanced as the level of replacement of CCM for maize increased. The cost of feed per kg was reduced but the total cost of feeding was increased as the level of replacement increased. The cost of production was minimized and profit was maximized at 100%, when 100% of the maize was replaced by CCM. CCM has no harmful effect on performance of rabbits and the replacement of maize with CCM in diet has reduce the cost of feed per kilogram and maximize profit at 100% level of replacement. Farmers can include composite cassava meal in diet of rabbits to replace 100% of maize as major source of energy in diet.