Effets de l’incorporation de la farine des feuilles de Niébé « Vigna unguilculata » sur la productivité du lapin de « race bobo »

Abstract

This study aimed to determine the effects of the incorporation of cowpea leafs meal on the productivity of rabbits of bobo breed. To achieve this objective, 12 female rabbits Bobo breed, randomly shared into two treatments, control and V ration, were undergone a grouped copulation. To 35 days old, their 40 progenies were shared into 4 batches of 5 rabbits each, between control and V ration. The control received a ration containing the cotton cake. The V ration incorporated cowpea leafs meal to replace some of the cotton cake. The study lasted 6 months. The V ration slightly improved the size of the litter: 5.5 for V ration vs 5.2 rabbits for the control. The pre-weaning mortality rate was 41.9% vs 36.4% and the live weight, before weaning, was 149.3 vs 93.4g at the 7th day and 339.4 vs 292.3g at the 28th day respectively for the V ration and the control. After 12 weeks of fattening, the average values of the V ration compared to those of the control were 66.8 vs 58.2g for the average ingestion, 1914.2 vs 1753.9g for the live weight, the indices of consumption being 4.2 vs 4.8. No significant difference was observed between the averages of the measured parameters. In conclusion, cowpea leafs meal may partially replace cotton cake in the rabbit diet.