Utilization and Cost Benefit of Replacement of Maize with Bread Waste in the Diet of Weaned Rabbits

Forty-eight (48) crosses of Chinchilla and white California weaned rabbits of mixed sexes of mean weight of 543.45 ± 3.6g were used for this research work. Four diets were compounded and bread waste (BW) was added at varying inclusion levels at 0% (control, BW1), 50% (BW2), 75% (BW3) and 100% (BW4) as a substitute for maize grain. Each dietary treatment was repeated three times with 4 rabbits per replicate. Data collected include feed intake (FI), weight gain (WG), feed conversion ratio (FCR), cost/weight gain (CWG), and dressing percentage (DP). The FI increased numerically (P<0.05) as the level of bread waste added up from zero percent inclusion to a hundred percent (BW4). Varying inclusion levels of bread waste did not affect the performance of the rabbit in terms of WG across the treatments (P>0.05). The FCR of diet BW3 is similar to that of BW1. No mortality was reported across the treatments. The chemical compositions of the meat were not affected by the dietary treatments (P>0.05). The highest CWG was reported in the control diets while the lowest CWG was recorded in BW4. Bread waste could be used to substitute maize up to 100% in the diet of weaned rabbits.