Evaluation of doe traits in a project of synthesizing new line of rabbits in Egypt

The experimental work of this study was carried out within a project of "improvement of rabbit lines" with the cooperation of the Spanish agency of international cooperation through four successive seasons from 2007 to 2008 in the rabbitry of the Department of Animal Production, Faculty of Agriculture, Benha University, Egypt. A total number of 45 does in three breed groups of Gabali, V-line and Moshtohor line (M-line) rabbits. Three does from each breed group were chosen randomly and sacrificed at 12 day of gestation (after palpation and pregnancy assurance). The studied were ovulation rates (OR), number of implantation sites/doe (NIS), number of viable embryos/doe (NVE), implantation rate (IR), number of corpora lutea (NCL), weight of corpora lutea (WCL), weight of lutein tissue (WLT), weight of ovary (WO), early embryonic mortality (EEM) % and some histological studies in uterine horn. Obtained results showed significant differences in OR, NIS, NVE, IR, NCL, WCL and WLT between the Gabali, V-line and M-line being 8.67, 8.1 and 9.2 for OR; 7.36, 7.43 and 8.33 for NIS; 5.02, 6.67 and 7.13 for NVE; 84.89%, 91.72% and 90.54% for IR; 12.9, 14.1 and 13.6 mg for WCL; and 111.84, 114.21 and 125.12 mg for WLT, respectively. Average of the early embryonic mortality was 20.69, 9.12 and 10.87% in Gabali, V-line and M-line, respectively. However no significant difference was found in weight of ovary due to the effect of breed group. The mucosal layer of uterus was lined by columnar epithelium with underlying connective tissue of the lamina propria which was rich by dilated blood capillaries in V-line and Mline than in Gabali breed. The muscular layer was thicker in M-line does than in both Gabali and V-line. It is concluded that doe rabbits of M-line had superiority in OR (9.7%), INS (12.6%), NVE (22.0%), IR (2.5%), NCL (9.7%), WCL (0.74%), WLT (10.7%), WO (-1.2%) and EEM (-27.1%) over of the two foundations.