Effect of breed and graded levels of sun-dried pineapple (Ananas cosmosus) peel on carcass characteristics of growing rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) bucks.

The study was conducted to determine the effect of breed and graded levels of sun-dried pineapple peel (PP) on the carcass characteristics of growing rabbit bucks. Thirty-two growing rabbits (New Zealand White, Chinchilla and Dutch) aged between 6 and 7 weeks, with an initial average weight of 762,25±52,66 g; were randomly assigned to four dietary treatments (0%, 5%, 10% and 15% PP) in a completely randomized 3 x 4 design involving three breeds and four dietary treatments, with eight rabbits of each breed in each treatment. The experimental diets and clean drinking water were supplied ad libitum during the experiment, which lasted 56 days. At the end of the feeding trial, three rabbits from each of the treatments were used for analysis of carcass characteristics. The carcasses were cut into parts, which were weighed. These were the head, loin, thoracic cage, skin, forelimb, shank, hind limb, testis, organs (heart, liver, kidney, caecum, lungs, stomach, and intestine), and abdominal fat. The data were subjected to statistical analysis in SAS software version 9.0. There were no significant (P > 0,05) differences in the weight of any of the organs or retail cuts except for the thoracic cage and shank, with significantly (P < 0,05) higher values in the Chinchilla breed. The results pertaining to the influence of graded levels showed no significant (P > 0,05) difference in any of the parameters except for the caecum, intestine and hind limb, with the highest weights at 10%, 0% and 5% PP, respectively. However, there were no differences and no deleterious effects across all treatments on all major carcass traits of growing rabbit bucks. In conclusion, the chinchilla breed is recommended due to the higher thoracic cage and shank weights, and 10% inclusion of pineapple because it resulted in higher caecum weight. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]