Effects of paddy rice supplementation of Malvaviscus foliage (Malvaviscus penduliflorus) on growth performance of rabbits

L T L Phuong, L D Ngoan and T R Preston*

Hue University of Agriculture and Forestry
102 Phung Hung street, Hue City, Vietnam
lelanphuong1412@gmail.com
* TOSOLY, AA48, Socorro, Santander del Sur, Colombia

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine the effect of paddy rice supplementation on growth performance of rabbits fed a basal diet of foliage of Malvaviscus penduliflorus. Thirty five rabbits (New Zealand x Local) were arranged in a completely randomized design with 5 treatments, corresponding to paddy rice levels of  0, 1, 2, 3 and 4% of live weight. Malvaviscus penduliflorus was fed ad libitum.

There was no effect of paddy rice level on feed intake, but weight gain and feed conversion were improved almost threefold when paddy rice supplied half the diet  compared with Malvaviscus foliage fed alone. Mortality was 60% when Malvaviscus foliage was the sole diet.

Keywords: feed intake, feed conversion, mortality, weight gain

Introduction

Malvaviscus forage (Malvaviscus penduliflorus) usually is used as a " living" fence and ruminant feed in central Vietnam. It  grows very well in many kinds of soil and is tolerant of changing climatic conditions (Nguyen Xuan Ba and Le Duc Ngoan 2003). In a preliminary study, Malvaviscus forage as the sole feed supported growth rates of 14-16g/day (Le Thi Lan Phuong 2008). The foliage is rich in crude protein (191 g/kg DM) and it was hypothesized that growth and feed conversion would be improved by supplementation with a high energy feed such as paddy rice, that has been shown to increase growth rates of rabbits fed other foliages (Tam et al 2009; Luyen et al 2012).

Materials and Methods

Location

The experiment was carried out at the experimental farm of Hue University of Agriculture and Forestry, Hue city from September to December 2010.

Animals

Hybrid rabbits (New Zealand x Local) of about 3 months of age were used in the experiment. Before starting the experiment, they were treated against external parasites with injection of Ivermectin solution (1 ml per 3 kg body weight) and vaccinated against VHD (virus haematologic disease). They were housed in cages constructed from wood and wire mesh., with dimensions of width 0.5 m, length 0.6 m and height 0.4 m. 

Treatments and experimental design

The treatments were levels of paddy rice of 0, 1, 2, 3 and 4% of live weight arranged in a completely random design  with 7 replications.

Data collection

The rabbits were weighed at the beginning of the experiment and at seven day intervals over the trial period of 56 days. Samples of feeds offered and refused were analyzed for DM, OM, CP, NDF and ash following the procedures of AOAC (1990) and Van Soest et al (1991).

Statistical analysis

Data from the experiment were analyzed using the General Linear Model (GLM) procedure in the ANOVA program of the Minitab software (Minitab 2005) .  Results are presented as Least Squares Means with their pooled standard errors.

Results and discussion

Feed characteristics

Crude protein, ash and cell wall components were much higher in Malvaviscus foliage than in paddy rice (Table 1).

Intake of Malvaviscus foliage declined as the offer level of paddy rice was increased (Table 2; Figure 1). This affected the overall crude protein content which declined from 19.7 to 10.9% of the diet DM as the proportion of paddy rice in the diet was increased.  The effects of paddy rice supplementation on growth rate and feed conversion were dramatic, with almost three-fold improvements when the paddy rice replaced 50% of the Malvaviscus foliage in the diet (Figures 2 and 3). These improvements were reflected also in the survival data which were 100% with paddy rice supplying from 25 to 50% of the diet DM, while mortality was 60% when Malvaviscus foliage was the sole diet.

Figure 1. Effect of paddy rice supplementation on DM feed intake of rabbits fed a basal diet of Malvaviscus foliage	Figure 2. Effect of paddy rice supplementation on growth rate of rabbits fed a basal diet of Malvaviscus foliage	Figure 3. Effect of paddy rice supplementation on DM feed conversion of rabbits fed a basal diet of Malvaviscus foliage

The beneficial effects of supplementing rabbit diets with paddy rice appear to be related to the nutritive value of the basal forage in the diet. Thus paddy rice increased growth rate by 100% when the forage source was water spinach, but this was reduced to 25% when cabbage leaves were offered together with water spinach (Tam et al 2011). When sweet potato vines was the forage the improvement from paddy rice supplementation was only 12% (Luyen et al 2012).

This study shows that Malvaviscus foliage has a low nutritive value for growing rabbits despite its apparent high palatability as DM intake was high, when it was the sole component of the diet. The implication is that there may be present some anti-nutritional compounds that negatively affect its nutritive value.

Conclusions

• Paddy rice supplementation of Malvaviscus foliage improved growth rate and feed conversion almost three-fold compared with the foliage as the sole diet. Mortality was 60% when Malvaviscus foliage was the sole diet.

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the MEKARN project, financed by Sida for financial support of the present study.     

References

AOAC 1990 Official Method of Analysis. Association of Official Analytical Chemists. 15^th edition (K Helrick editor), Arlington pp 1230  

Le Thi Lan Phuong 2008 Evaluation of local forages for rabbits in Central Vietnam.  Proceedings MEKARN Rabbit Conference: Organic rabbit production from forages (Editors: Reg Preston and Nnguyen Van Thu), Cantho University, Vietnam, 25-27 November 2008 http://www.mekarn.org/prorab/phuo.htm

Luyen L T and Preston T R 2012 Growth performance of New Zealand White rabbits fed sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) vines supplemented with paddy rice or Guinea grass supplemented with commercial concentrate. Livestock Research for Rural Development. Volume 24, Article #127. http://www.lrrd.org/lrrd24/7/luye24127.htm

Minitab 2005 Minitab Reference Manual, Release 14 for Windows. Minitab Inc, USA.

Nguyen Xuan Ba and Le Duc Ngoan 2003 Evaluation of some unconventional trees/plants as ruminant feeds in Central Vietnam. Livestock Research for Rural Development 15 (6). http://www.lrrd.org/lrrd15/6/ba156.htm

Tam N H, Tuan V T, Lam V, Hang B P T and Preston T R 2009: Effects on growth of rabbits of supplementing a basal diet of water spinach (Ipomoea aquatica) with vegetable wastes and paddy rice. Livestock Research for Rural Development. Volume 21, Article #174. Retrieved March 14, 2013, from http://www.lrrd.org/lrrd21/10/hang21174.htm

Van Soest P J, Robertson J B and Lewis B A 1991 Methods of dietary fiber, neutral detergent fiber and non starch polysaccharides in relation to animal nutrition. Journal of Dairy Science 74:3585-3597 http://download.journals.elsevierhealth.com/pdfs/journals/0022-0302/PIIS0022030291785512.pdf

Received 14 March 2013; Accepted 27 March 2013; Published 2 April 2013

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