The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of berberine on digestion and metabolism of meat rabbits. One hundred and twenty-eight fifty-day-old New Zealand rabbits with similar body weight were randomly allotted into four groups by a single-factor completely randomized block design. One group was control group and the rest were experimental groups. There were thirty-two replicates in each group and one rabbit in each replicate. The rabbits in the control group were fed a basal diet, and the rabbits in the three experimental groups were fed the basal diets supplemented with 10, 20 and 30 mg/kg berberine hydrochloride, respectively. The duration of the preliminary experiment was 7 d and the duration of the formal experiment was 27 d. All of the feces and urine that the experimental rabbits excreted were collected from the tenth day to the fifteenth day during the formal experiment. The results showed as follows: for the experimental rabbits from the control group, the apparent digestibility of dry matter was significantly lower than that of the experimental rabbits from the rest groups (P<0.05 or P<0.01), the apparent digestibility of organic matter and crude fiber was significantly lower than that of the experimental rabbits from the 10 mg/kg group and the 20 mg/kg group (P<0.05 or P<0.01), and the apparent digestibility of ether extract was significantly lower than that of the experimental rabbits from the 20 mg/kg group and the 30 mg/kg group (P<0.05 or P<0.01). The apparent digestibility of gross energy of the experimental rabbits from the control group was significantly lower than that of the experimental rabbits from the rest groups (P<0.05 or P<0.01). For the experimental rabbits from the 20 mg/kg group, the availability of digestible energy was significantly higher than that of the experimental rabbits from the control group and the 30 mg/kg group (P<0.05) and the availability of gross energy was significantly higher than that of the experimental rabbits from the rest groups (P<0.01). The apparent digestibility of nitrogen of the experimental rabbits from the 10 mg/kg group and the 20 mg/kg group was significantly higher than that of the experimental rabbits from the control group and the 30 mg/kg group (P<0.05 or P<0.01), and the availability of nitrogen and the availability of digested nitrogen of the experimental rabbits from the control group were significantly higher than that of the experimental rabbits from the rest groups (P<0.05 or P<0.01). For the experimental rabbits from the control group and the 30 mg/kg group, the activity of microbial total dehydrogenase in the digesta of cecum was significantly lower than that of the experimental rabbits from the 10 mg/kg group and the 20 mg/kg group (P<0.01), while the concentration of ammonia nitrogen in the digesta of cecum was significantly higher than that of the experimental rabbits from the 10 mg/kg group and the 20 mg/kg group (P<0.01). The concentration of microbia crude protein in the digesta of cecum of the experimental rabbits from the control group was significantly lower than that of the experimental rabbits from the rest groups (P<0.05 or P<0.01). The results indicate that berberine supplementation to the diet of meat rabbits can improve the utilization efficiency of dry matter, organic matter, crude fiber, ether extract, gross energy and nitrogen, and increase the activity of microbial total dehydrogenase and the concentration of microbia crude protein in the digesta of cecum, while decrease the concentration of ammonia nitrogen; in conclusion, 20 mg/kg is the optimum dosage of berberine hydrochloride in the diet of meat rabbits.