Effects of Dietary Zinc Supplemental Level on Growth Performance, Slaughter Performance, Meat Quality, Fur Quality and Nitrogen Metabolism of Growing Rex Rabbits
YANG Gouyu1,2, LIU Gongyan1,2, CHEN Xiaoyang1,2, ZHANG Bin1,2, LIU Lei1,2, LI Fuchang1,2
1. College of Animal Science and Technology, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai'an 271018, China;
2. Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Animal Biotechnology and Disease Control and Prevention, Tai'an 271018, China
Abstract：
The experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of dietary zinc supplemental level on growth performance, slaughter performance, meat quality, fur quality and nitrogen metabolism of growing Rex rabbits. A total of 160 healthy 3-month-old with similar body weight were randomly divided into 4 groups with 40 replicates in each group and 1 rabbit in each replicate. Rabbits in 4 groups were fed basal diets supplemented with 0, 40, 80 and 120 mg/kg zinc (in the form of zinc sulfate), respectively. The pre-experimental period lasted for 7 days, and the experimental period lasted for 49 days. The results showed as follows:1) dietary zinc supplemental levels had no significant influence on final body weight (FBW), average daily feed intake (ADFI), average daily gain (ADG) and feed to gain ratio (F/G) of growing Rex rabbits (P>0.05). 2) Dietary zinc supplemental levels had no significant influence on eviscerated ratio, back lumbar muscle ratio and muscle quality indices including pH and meat color (brightness and redness values) of growing Rex rabbits (P>0.05), but had significant influences on front leg muscle ratio and muscle yellowness value (P<0.05), and had extremely significant influence on hind leg muscle ratio and drip loss ratio (P<0.01). 3) Dietary zinc supplemental levels had no significant influence on fur weight of growing Rex rabbits (P>0.05), but had extremely significant influence on fur area (P<0.01), and had significant influence on fur thickness and fur length (P<0.05). 4) Dietary zinc supplemental levels had significant influence on urinary nitrogen (UN), retention nitrogen (RN), nitrogen utilization rate (NUR) and nitrogen biological value (NBV) of growing Rex rabbits (P<0.05). Considering all indexes of this experiment, the appropriate dietary zinc supplemental level is 40 mg/kg (the diet zinc measured value is 49.4 mg/kg) for 3 to 5-month-old growing Rex rabbits.
. Effects of Dietary Zinc Supplemental Level on Growth Performance, Slaughter Performance, Meat Quality, Fur Quality and Nitrogen Metabolism of Growing Rex Rabbits[J]. Chinese Journal of Animal Nutrition, 2019,V31(4): 1936-1942.
2019, Vol. 31 