Productive performance and carcass characteristics of New Zealand white and California rabbits and their crosses

Objective: To evaluate the growth, performance, and carcass characteristics as well as the individual and maternal heterosis effects of New Zealand White (NZ), California (CA) rabbits and their crosses. Design/methodology/approach: 450 offspring rabbits, from 48 females (does) mated to six stud rabbits, were evaluated, recording the weight (BLW) and litter size at birth (LSB) and weaning (LSW), as well as the weight (AWW), gain (AWG), consumption (AWC), and feed conversion (CONV) for 8 weeks post-weaning. The carcass live weight at slaughter, warm carcass weight with head, carcass yield and parts of the carcass were evaluated. Results: The assessment showed differences (P0.05) in LSB and LSW with values of 10.47 and 9.78 kits respectively, when NZ was used as the paternal breed, results suggest individual heterosis of 5.91% for litter size and 12.44% for the weaning weight. Regarding the productive performance and carcass characteristics, the California breed showed superiority as a paternal breed, with average values of 36.11 g in AWG and 2.90 in CONV. The average individual weight at the end of the fattening, at 70 days of age, was 2.09 kg and the carcass weight was 1.16 kg. Post-weaning heterosis for the evaluated characteristics during fattening was positive and moderate. Limitations on study/implications: It is necessary to carry out genetic improvement studies, with different crossing systems and to evaluate results based on productive and reproductive performance. Findings/conclusions: When using NZ as a paternal breed, the reproductive characteristics of the offspring were superior compared to the ones obtained from CA. In contrast, the reproductive variables were superior in CA breed in comparison to NZ