Growing rabbit management: Rousing system, reduction of eating time and feeder space

One hundred and thirty three weanling New Zealand White (NZW) rabbits were used in this investigation through three experiments under Egyptian winter climate. The first one aimed to compare between the effect of housing systems (cages vs floor); the second trial aimed to study the effect of restricted feeding by reducing the feeding time 12 hours either night or day and the third trial aimed to study the effect of various spaces (6 or 10 cm) specified on the feeder trough for each rabbit, on growth performance and economical efficiency from weaning to meat marketing age. Raising NZW rabbits (5-12 weeks) of age on the float reduced significantly (P<0.05) body weight and weight gain at marketing age and increased mortality rate and feed conversion than that rabbits reared in battery cages. Feeding NZW rabbits from 4-12 weeks of age 12 hours nightly/day (18:00-06:00) reduced significantly (P<0.01) live weight at 8 and 12 weeks of age, weight gain form 4-8 and 4-12 weeks of age as compared with that rabbits fed 24 hrs/day or 12 hrs daytime/day (06:00-18:00). The best feed conversion (3.52) and economical efficiency (296.8\%) were obtained with the group of rabbits which fed for 12hrs during the daytime than (3.92 and 3.93) feed conversion and (257.5 and 256.3\%) economical efficiency for rabbits fed 24 12 hrs nightly/day, respectively. Concerning the feeder space which specified for each rabbit (6 vs 10 cm), there were no significant (P<0.05) differences between the two groups in all studied traits.