Effect of feeding different processed pigeon PEA (Cajanus cajan) supplemented with Maxigrain® on the performance and carcass characteristics of weaner rabbits

This study was carried out to evaluate the effect of differently processed Pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan) with enzyme, Maxigrain® supplementation on the performance and carcass characteristic of weaner rabbits. The pigeon peas used were raw, boiled and soaked with and without Maxigrain® supplementation, respectively. A total of 42 weaner rabbits (6 weeks old) of mixed breed and sexes with average initial weight 450 g, were randomly assigned to seven dietary treatments in a complete randomized design. Dieats consisted of 0%, 30% (raw with Maxigrain®), 30% (boiled with Maxigrain®), 30% (soaked with Maxigrain®), 30% (raw without Maxigrain®), 30% (boiled without Maxigrain®) and 30% (soaked without Maxigrain®) representing treatments T1(control diet), T2, T3, T4, T5, T6 and T7, respectively. Each dietary treatment was replicated 6 times, with rabbits housed in individual cages. The trial lasted for 8 weeks. The average daily weight gains in treatments with pigeon pea based diets (T2, T3, T4, T5, T6 and T7) were all similar while T1 had the lowest average daily weight gain. The feed to gain ratio and feed cost per kg gain were highest for T1 compared to the other treatments. The mortality was significantly higher in T4 compared to all other treatments. There was no significant difference in the final weight, average daily feed intake, water intake, and water to feed ratio for all the treatments. There were significant differences in the pre-slaughter weight, slaughter weight, dressing percentage, head, skin, tail, liver, kidney, heart, lungs, empty intestine, stomach, heart and chest. The dressing percentage, head, kidney, thigh, were significantly lower in T6 compared to all other treatments. There were no significant differences in the carcass characteristics of the dressed weight, full intestine, length of intestine, length of intestine and loins. The result indicates that pigeon pea can be used effectively to replace groundnut cake as a protein source in rabbit nutrition at 30% inclusion, either raw or processed with or without Maxigrain®. Also pigeon pea in rabbit nutrition will reduce the cost of production and does not have any harmful effect on the rabbit.