Consequences of rearing feeding programme on the performance of rabbit females from 1st to 2nd parturition. (28th March 2019) - Martínez-Paredes, E.
Abstract : To evaluate how rearing programmes could affect resources allocation and reproductive performance of primiparous rabbit females, a total of 118 rabbit females were used to evaluate the effects of five rearing feeding programmes on their performance from 1st to 2nd parturition: CAL, fed ad libitum C diet (11.0 MJ digestible energy (DE), 114 g digestible protein (DP) and 358 g NDF/ kg dry matter (DM) until 1st parturition; CR, fed ad libitum with C diet until 12 weeks of age and then C diet restricted (140 g/day) until 1st parturition; F, fed ad libitum with F diet (8.7 MJ DE, 88 g DP and 476 NDF/kg DM) until 1st parturition; FC, fed with F diet ad libitum until 16 weeks of age, and C diet ad libitum until 1st parturition; FCF, fed with F diet ad libitum until 16 weeks of age, then C diet ad libitum until 20 weeks and then F diet ad libitum until 1st parturition. From 1st parturition, C diet was ad libitum offered to all the experimental groups until 2nd parturition. CAL females presented lower feed intake than females of F, FC and FCF groups in the 1 st week of lactation (on av. −16.6%; P <0.05). During 1st lactation, the perirenal fat thickness change in CAL females was not different from 0 (+0.02 mm), while in the other four groups it increased (on av. +0.44 mm; P <0.05). Plasma of females fed with F diet during rearing (F, FC and FCF) had lower non-esterified fatty acids content than those exclusively fed with C diet (–0.088 and –0.072 mmol/l compared to CAL and CR, respectively; P <0.05). FCF litters had higher weight than F litters at day 21 of lactation (+247 g; P <0.05), but FCF litter had significantly lower weight than FC litters at weaning (+170 g; P <0.05). CR females had the shortest average interval between the 1st and 2nd parturition (49 days) and FCF females the longest (+ 9 days compared to CR; P <0.05). At 2nd parturition, liveborn litters of F females were larger and heavier than litters of FCF females (+2.22 kits and +138 g; P <0.05), probably due to the lower mortality at birth of F litters (–16.5 percentage points; P <0.05). In conclusion, rearing females on fibrous diets seems to increase the ability of primiparous rabbit females to obtain resources, especially at the onset of lactation.