1. NEW POSSIBILITIES OF RAISING RABBIT YOUNG BY ALTERNATIVE NURSING METHODS
- Author
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Tünde Gyarmati, Zsolt Szendrő, Edit Biró-Németh, István Radnai, Gábor Milisits, Zsolt Matics, and Luc Maertens
- Subjects
rabbit ,suckling ,milk intake ,Agriculture (General) ,S1-972 ,Plant culture ,SB1-1110 - Abstract
In the first experiment 360 Pannon White kits from 45 litters were divided into 3 groups. The kits in group SS were suckled once a day during the first 35 days of life (traditional method of nursing). Group DD was raised by 2 does and the kits were suckled both in the morning and in the evening until 35 days of age. The kits of the 3 rd group (D0) were suckled twice a day for 23 days, after which they were weaned. Rabbits which were suckled twice a day consumed 89 % more milk until 23 days of age than those of the SS kits. In the second experiment authors used different management systems, to investigate the possibilities of “double-suckling”. Both nulliparous as multiparous does were treated to induce pseudopregnancy (by means of GnRH). They were used as second doe and suckled the kits in the afternoon. Pseudopregnant does produced milk (nulliparous does less than does which had previously produced litters), but in conditions of controlled suckling they were not willing to suckle the young. In a third experiment, does (n=44) were inseminated 11 days after kindling. Weaning was performed at the age of 21 days and does could systematically serve as second mother for the litters born at the same day. The “additional” does that nursed the young in the afternoon produced 65 % of the milk quantity produced by the natural mother between days 0 and 21.
- Published
- 2000