Calcium requirement of growing rabbits.

T HE minimum calcium requirement of growing rabbits has not been determined. In practice dietary calcium levels have been based largely on information gained from other animals. Commercial rabbit diets commonly contain 0.8 to 1.0% calcium. Since the domestic rabbit is extensively used as an experimental animal and is increasingly used as a source of edible meat, particularly in the Los Angeles and New York City areas, an understanding of the calcium nutrition of the rabbit is desirable. The minimum dietary phosphorus requirement of the growing rabbit has been found by Mathieu and Smith (1961) to be approximately 0.22% of the diet.