Nutritive value of adding dried Cratylia argentea leaves to the feed of growing rabbits

Abstract

Nutrition in rabbit farming accounts for about 70% of all costs; in this sense, C. argentea
is an excellent alternative as a feed, due to its bromatological composition. Our goal is to evaluate
the nutritional value of diets formulated with the dried leaves of C. argentea to feed growing rabbits.
Twenty-eight white rabbits of the New Zealand breed, 55 days old, of both sexes, were used. Two
treatments (n = 14, 7 males, and 7 females) were evaluated in a randomized block experimental design
in a 2 x 2 factorial scheme. The control diet (CTRL) was formulated to meet the nutritional requirements
of growing rabbits, and the test diet (DRY) was obtained by replacing 20% of the CTRL diet with dried
leaves of C. argentea. The experimental period was comprised of 11 days, with seven days of adaptation
and four days of total feces collection. The average daily gain, dry matter intake, feed conversion, and
final body weight were not affected by replacing the CTRL diet with the dried leaves of C. argentea.
The coefficient of dry matter digestibility showed better results in CTRL rabbits (female: 72.19%, male:
72.48%). Rabbits fed with the CTRL diet exhibited a higher consumption of crude protein compared
to those fed with the DRY diet, however, these rabbits showed higher elimination and lower retention
of crude protein. It is concluded that C. argentea presents values of 1,400.67 kcal per kg of dry matter,
digestible energy, and 3.34% digestible protein per kg of dry matter.