EFFECT OF USING BIOGEN AS FEED ADDITIVE ON THE PRODUCTIVE PERFORMANCE OF GROWING RABBITS

Abstract

: Twenty four healthy V-Line growing rabbits, 5 weeks of age and initial live body weight (LBW) of 722 ± 27 g, were selected and randomly assigned to one of four dietary experimental groups of 6 rabbits in each. The four groups of rabbits received basal diet ad libitum (Control group; T1) and basal diet plus 0.5, 0.75 or 1.0 g Biogen / Kg diet in the other three treated groups (T2, T3 and T4, respectively). Growth performance traits till 14 weeks of age in terms of live body weight, daily weight gain, feed conversion ratio, carcass characteristics, blood traits and the economic impact of adding Biogen to growing rabbit diets were tested. The obtained results indicated that LBW improved by about 4.29, 4.75 and 11.68%, respectively in T2, T3 and T4 groups supplemented with Biogen than the control (T1). Although there were no significant differences among tested groups in