Effects of substitution of soybean meal-alfalfa-maize by a combination of field bean or pea with hard wheat bran on digestion and growth performance in rabbits in Algeria

[EN] The aim of the trial was to study the effects of replacement of a soybean meal-alfalfa-maize based diet by a mixture of field bean (g/kg as fed: 257 crude protein [CP], 139 neutral detergent fibre [NDF]) or pea (g/kg as fed: 203 CP, 122 NDF) combined with hard wheat bran (g/kg as fed: 140 CP, 396 NDF) and without supplementation of synthetic DL-methionine, on diet digestibility, growth and slaughter traits of growing rabbits. Three diets were formulated: a control diet mainly consisting of 15% of soybean meal, alfalfa and maize (SBM15 diet; g/kg as fed: 161 CP and 267 NDF) and 2 experimental diets based on 26% of field bean (FB26 diet; g/kg as fed: 167 CP and 250 NDF) or 30% of pea (P30 diet; g/kg as fed: 167 CP and 255 NDF) as main protein source, and completed with hard wheat bran (34 and 40%, respectively for FB26 and P30 diets) partly replacing alfalfa and maize. Diets were distributed ad libitum to 3 groups of 40 mixed-sex growing rabbits of Algerian white population, placed in collective cages (4 rabbits/cage) from weaning (28 d, mean weight: 614±112 g) until 77 d of age (slaughter). Faecal digestibility was measured between 42 and 46 d of age in 7 rabbits/group. Gross energy and crude protein digestibility coefficients were similar for SBM15 and FB26 diets (78.6 and 86.4%, respectively) and lower for P30 diet (75.1 and 83.6%, respectively; P≤0.03). Treatments had no effect (P=0.12) on mortality rate, which was on av. 9.2%. Treatments did not affect growth performance from 28 to 77 d of age (30.8 g/d) or feed intake (mean 94.6 g/d), but feed conversion ratio was higher for rabbits fed FB26 and P30 diets compared to those fed SBM15 diet (3.13 vs. 2.94; P=0.006). The dressing out percentages (mean 66.6%) and the muscle/bone ratio (6.8) were similar for the 3 groups of rabbits. 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