Table 3.
Growth performance of growing rabbits fed diets supplemented with AA, OPE and TPE during different ages.
| Items | Experimental Diets | p-Value | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Control | AA | OPE | TPE | ||
| Initial body weight (g/rabbit) | 604.33 ± 27.39 | 602.00 ± 24.74 | 604.66 ± 25.39 | 604.67 ± 18.12 | 0.9998 |
| Final body weight (g/rabbit) | 1872.33 b ± 44.75 | 2040.69 a ± 49.39 | 2087.00 a ± 30.86 | 2089.33 a ± 27.40 | 0.0005 |
| Body weight gain (g/rabbit) | |||||
| Weeks 5–9 | 20.84 b ± 1.62 | 22.71 ab ± 1.09 | 24.74 a 0.71 | 24.26 a ± 0.73 | 0.066 |
| Weeks 9–13 | 19.75 ± 1.56 | 22.93 ± 1.16 | 22.56 ± 1.08 | 23.01 ± 0.77 | 0.170 |
| Weeks 5–13 | 20.13 b ± 0.82 | 22.84 a ± 0.77 | 23.53 a ± 0.59 | 23.57 a ± 0.36 | 0.0019 |
| Feed consumption (g/rabbit/day) | |||||
| Weeks 5–9 | 70.03 c ± 0.58 | 75.30 b ± 1.34 | 82.83 a ± 0.79 | 84.50 a ± 1.15 | <0.0001 |
| Weeks 9–13 | 92.13 b ± 0.99 | 94.88 b ± 1.26 | 98.60 a ± 1.35 | 99.24 a ± 1.39 | 0.0005 |
| Weeks 5–13 | 82.31 c ± 0.62 | 86.18 b ± 1.17 | 91.59 a ± 0.95 | 92.69 a ± 0.98 | <0.0001 |
| Feed conversion ratio (g feed/g gain) | |||||
| Weeks 5–9 | 3.36 ± 0.39 | 3.32 ± 0.17 | 3.35 ± 0.09 | 3.48 ± 0.17 | 0.7000 |
| Weeks 9–13 | 4.66 ± 0.47 | 4.14 ± 0.28 | 4.37 ± 0.24 | 4.31 ± 0.15 | 0.2300 |
| Weeks 5–13 | 4.09 ± 0.17 | 3.77 ± 0.19 | 3.89 ± 0.10 | 3.93 ± 0.07 | 0.4859 |
AA = ascorbic acid, OPE = orange peel Extract, TPE = tomato pomace extract. a,b Means with different superscripts in each raw differ significantly (p < 0.05).