NUTRITIVE VALUE OF COMMON REED (Phragmites australis) LEAVES FOR RABBITS

Si Ammar Kadi (1) , M. Ouendi , M. Slimani , K. Selmani , C. Bannelier , M. Berchiche , Thierry Gidenne

1 Département des Sciences Agronomiques, Faculté des Sciences Biologiques et Sciences Agronomiques

The nutritive value and potential use of sun-dried common reed (Phragmites australis) leaves "CRL", for the growing rabbit was studied by comparing 3 diets (regression method) containing an increasing incorporation of CRL: 0% (control, CRL0), 15 % (CRL15) and 30% (CRL30) in substitution to the control diet (356 g NDF and 197 g CP/ kg). Three groups of 37 rabbits (individually caged) were fed ad libitum the three diets from weaning (35 d, mean weight: 722 ± 142 g) to 77 d of age. The faecal digestibility of the diets was measured between 42 and 46 days of age on 10 rabbits per group. Common reed leaves can be considered as a roughage since it contained 64% of NDF (38% of ADF) and 10.2% of crude protein. The digestible energy (DE) content of CRL calculated by regression was null (-1.8±0.29 MJ/kg as fed) that classed this roughage as a source of ballast, probably active for transit stimulation. The digestibility of crude protein reached 28.5%, corresponding to a digestible crude protein concentration of 29.0±5.6 g/kg as fed basis. Health status was not affected by the CRL incorporation rate. However, incorporation of CRL in feeds impaired the growth less than 10% (34.2 for CRL0 vs 31.4 g/d for CRL15 and CRL30, from 35 to 77d old) and feed conversion 16%.

Mots clés: Growing rabbit; digestion; Reed leaves (Phragmites australis); growth performance; nutritive value

Domaines: Sciences du Vivant [q-bio]

Si Ammar Kadi, M. Ouendi, M. Slimani, K. Selmani, C. Bannelier, et al.. NUTRITIVE VALUE OF COMMON REED (Phragmites australis) LEAVES FOR RABBITS. 10th world rabbit congress, world rabbit science association, Sep 2012, Sharm El- Sheikh, Egypt. pp.513 - 517. ⟨hal-01743208⟩