The study was designed to evaluate the dietary effect of hydroponic sprouted fodder on productive and reproductive performance of New Zealand White Rabbit.
Experimental site and animals The present study was conducted with two experiments at the Advanced Animal Research Farm of Hajee Mohammad Danesh Science and Technology University, Dinajpur, Bangladesh. In Expt: I, a total of 48 post-weaned young rabbits of 8 weeks old were selected to study the dietary effect of hydroponic sprouted fodder on growth performance up to 12 weeks of age. In Expt: II, a total 24 does of 10 months of age were selected to investigate the dietary effect of hydroponic sprouted fodder on reproductive performances.
Production of hydroponic sprouted fodder: Hydroponic sprouted fodder was produced under intensive care at the Advanced Animal Research Farm of the Faculty of Veterinary and Animal Science, Hajee Mohammad Danesh Science and Technology University (HSTU), Dinajpur. The result of the germination test was >80%.
Experimental design and dietary treatments Experiment I The study was conducted with 48 young (8 weeks old) New Zealand White rabbits that were randomly assigned into four dietary treatment groups under a completely randomized block design (CRBD) asT1, T2, T3 and T4 having 12 rabbits in each group with six replications so that there were two rabbits in each replication. T1 was considered as the control group and fed 100% commercial concentrate feed (CCF) only, where T2, T3 and T4 groups were fed 75, 50, and 25% CCF along with 25, 50, 75% hydroponic sprouted fodder, respectively. Initial live weight of each rabbit was recorded just prior to grouping and kept into separate steel-iron made cage (2×2 feet; two/cage). Live weight at 7 days interval and daily feed intake were recorded up to 16 weeks of the experimental period.
Experiment II A total of 24 adult rabbit does were randomly assigned into four dietary treatment groups under a completely randomized block design (CRBD), having 6 replications with 2 rabbits in each replication. T1 considered as control group and fed only commercial concentrate feed, where T2, T3 and T4 groups fed 75, 50, 25% CCF and 25, 50, 75% hydroponic maize sprouted fodder, respectively.
General management Each rabbit was kept in a separate steel-iron-made cage (2×2 feet). Before mating, all does were injected intramuscularly with 0.25 ml Ovuprost® (each ml containing 250 µg Cloprostenol), a synthetic analogue of prostaglandin F2α (PGF2α; Bayer, New Zealand) at first day of experiment (Abdel-Azeem, 2010 and Mobarak et al, 2015). At 72 h post-injection of prostaglandin, 0.20 ml of Ovurelin® (each ml containing 100 µg of GnRH; Bayer, New Zealand) was applied intramuscularly. Just after treatment, natural mating was performed by fertile bucks. Pregnancy diagnosis was performed at the 14th day of gestation and does live weight was recorded. The live weights of the does were recorded weekly. Finally, live weight of does at 28 day after breeding was recorded to calculate the doe live weight gain during pregnancy. After the birth of kits, litter size and litter weight was recorded in each week early in the morning.