Growth Performance and Apparent Nutrient Digestibility Coefficients of Weaned Rabbits Fed Diets Containing Different Forms of Cocoa Pod Husk Meal

The growth performance and apparent nutrient digestibility co – efficients of weaned rabbits fed corn – soybean meal basal diets containing different forms of cocoa pod husk meal were determined. A total of 60 mixed breed rabbits of both sexes (30 bucks and 30 does) with average initial weight of 606.42±1.30g were used in a nine week feeding trial using a completely randomized design. Twelve is nitrogenous and is caloric diets were formulated containing sundried (T1 T2, T3 & T4), fermented (T5 T6, T7 & T8), and hot - water treated (T9 T10, T11 & T12) cocoa pod husk meal (CPHM) each at 0, 12.5, 25 and 37.5% levels of inclusion, respectively. Diet with 0% CPHM served as the control in the different forms of the cocoa pod husk meal based diets. Growth performance parameters (feed intake, weight gain and feed conversion ratio) were determined, while apparent nutrient digestibility coefficients were determined at the 9th week using the direct in vivo method. The digestibility co - efficients were calculated using appropriate formula. Results of the study revealed that the final weight, total weight gain and average daily feed intake recorded significant (P<0.05) differences between dietary treatments. When compared with values in the control, diets with the highest inclusion level (37.5%) CPHM had the least total weight gain with the sundried, fermented and hot – water treated groups having 557.50, 570.83 and 390.00 g/rabbit respectively. The average daily feed intake declined with increasing levels of sundried CPHM (i.e. 66.94, 62.56, 59.27 and 52.98 g/rabbit/day, respectively). The hot – water treated CPHM diets recorded the worst FCR beyond 12.5% level when compared with other forms of CPHM. Some of the apparent nutrient digestibility coefficients for ash and NFE recorded significant (P<0.05) differences between dietary treatments, while crude protein, crude fibre and ether extract digestibility coefficients were statistically similar across dietary treatments in all the three forms of CPHM. The sundried CPHM had the least digestible crude protein (75.07%) at the highest inclusion level (37.5%). The study concludes that the three different forms of cocoa pod husk meal in the following order of superiority (fermented, hot – water treated and sundried) can be included in diets meant for rabbits at levels not exceeding 25% for optimum growth performance and apparent nutrient digestibility co - efficients.