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Abstract
The experimental work of the present study was carried out in the Rabbit Farm of San EL-Haggar Agricultural Company, San EL-Haggar Aria, Sharkia Governorate, Egypt. The present work aimed to study the effect of vitamin A levels supplementation sex and their interaction on body weight, body weight gain (periodic and daily), feed intake (periodic and daily), feed conversion and some carcass traits ( carcass weight and liver weight ) of the a growing rabbits.
A total number of 192 Hybrid (New Zealand White x California) rabbits 42 days of age were assigned randomly into four main experimental groups (48 rabbits each). Each main group was divided into two subgroups (24 females and 24 males ). The first group was kept untreated as control, while the other groups (2nd ; 3rd and 4th) were received vitamin A acetate in drinking water by 1000, 2000 and 3000 IU per head /day, respectively. The experimental period started from 7-15 weeks of age.
Results obtained could be summarized as follows:
1- Live body weight :
Effect of vitamin A : Average live body weight of rabbits receveid vitamin A by 2000 IU/head was highly significant (P<0.01) increased during the period from 5-8 week of experimental period.
Effect of sex : male rabbits was insignificant increased in live body weight than female.
Effect of vitamin A and sex interaction : male rabbits received vitamin A by 2000 IU/head recorded the insignificant high live body weight.
2- Average body weight gain:
Effect of vitamin A: Rabbits received vitamin A by 2000 IU increased in body weight gain from the bigining of the experiment but the increase become significant (P<0.05) at the period from 5-6 weeks. Highly significant (P<0.01) increase in body weight gain in overall the experimental period was recorded for control group and the group received 2000 IU vitamin A (1341.53 and 1399.59) , respectively.
Effect of sex : There were no effects of sex on average body weight gain.
Effect of vitamin A and sex interaction : Male rabbits received vitamin A by 2000 IU / head / day gained more than females .
3-Daily body weight gain :
Effect of vitamin A : Daily body weight gain was significantly (P<0.05) increased in rabbits group received vitamin A by 2000 IU during the period from 5-6 weeks. During the period from 7-8 weeks a significant (P<0.05) increase in daily body weight gain was recorded for controle group.
Effect of sex : Male rabbits recorded slight increase in daily body gain in comparison to females but there were no effect of sex on daily body weight gain.
Effect of vitamin A and sex interaction : Male rabbits received vitamin A by 2000 IU / head / day recorded daily body weight gain higher than other groups but there were no effect due to vitamin A x sex interaction on body weight gain.
4- Average feed intake :
Effect of vitamin A : A significant (P<0.05) increase in average feed intake was recorded with rabbits groups received vitamin A by 2000 and 3000 IU during the 1st and 2nd weeks of the experimental period. During the period from 3-4 weeks the increase was significant (P<0.05) in rabbits group treated with 1000 IU vitamin A. Total feed intake for the 4 groups was 4132.58, 4358.92, 4218.17 and 4199.42, respectively.
Effect of sex : Male rabbits ate more than females but there were no differences due to sex on average feed intake .
Effect of vitamin A and sex interaction : Males received vitamin A by 1000 IU/ head/ day ate more (4567.17gm) than the other groups but there were no significant (P<0.05) differences .
5-Average daily feed intake:
Effect of vitamin A : Average daily feed intake was significantly (P<0.05) increases in rabbits groups received vitamin A by 2000 and 3000 IU during the first two weeks of the experiment.
Effect of sex : Male rabbits recorded higher daily feed intake than females with out significant differences .
Effect of vitamin A and sex interaction : Male rabbits received 1000 IU recorded higher average daily feed intake as compared with the other groups but there were no significant (P<0.05) differences.
6-Feed conversion:
Effect of vitamin A : Highly significant (P<0.01) improvement in average feed conversion (3.09 and 3.05) was recorded for control group and the group received vitamin A by 2000 IU during the whole experimental period from 1-8 weeks of experiment.. However, during the period from 7-8 weeks control group recorded the best feed conversion.
Effect of sex : Average feed conversion of male rabbits was significantly (P<0.05) improved in comparison to females during the period from 3-4 weeks.
Effect of vitamin A and sex interaction : The best significant (P<0.05) feed conversion was recorded for males received vitamin A by 2000 IU during most of the experimental intervals and the total experimental .period from 1-8 weeks of experiment.
7-Carcass traits:
Effect of vitamin A : The higher carcass weight was recorded for rabbits group treated with 1000 IU vitamin A. while, the higher liver weight was recorded with the group treated with 2000 IU vitamin A.
Effect of sex : There were no effects due to sex on carcass and liver weight.
Effect of vitamin A and sex interaction: These were no interaction effect on carcass or liver weight due to interaction between vitamin A supplementation levels and sex.