DIGESTIBILITY AND NUTRIENTS INTAKE TRIALS ON NEW ZEALAND WHITE RABBIT AND THEIR CROSSES FED GROUPED AMOUNTS OF TIGERNUT (Cyperus esculentus)

The study was carried out to determine the feed intake and nutrients digestibility of tigernut meal fed to New Zealand White rabbit and their crosses. Twenty four (24) bucks with a mean body weight of 523g were used within the period of twelve (12) weeks. Experimental bucks were allotted into three dietary treatments using 2×3 factorial in a Completely Randomized Design (CRD). The treatments are; T1 (control 0% tigernut), T2 (3% tigernut) and T3 (6% tigernut). The results revealed that an increase in the level of tigernut inclusion significantly increases the dietary protein (CP). T3 had the highest mean value (35.08) for Crude fibre (CF), and Ash values (6.53) whereas T2 recorded the highest mean value (9.60) for Ether extract (EE). T1 had the highest mean value for Dry Matter (DM), (94.80), Crude Protein (CP) and nitrogen free extract (NFE). T1 had the highest mean values (10.67) for CP Content. The CP intake value was significantly higher in T3 compared to other treatments. The digestibility result revealed significant difference on DM (with T2 having highest mean value of 85.85), CF (T2 having the highest mean value of 66.17), EE (With T1 having the highest mean value of 54.77), while no significant difference was observed on CP and Ash. It could be concluded from these results that tigernut can be used as energy and protein sources in the diet of New Zealand white and crosses rabbit. More trials should be conducted to further elucidate the replacement value of tigernut as feed ingredient.