World Rabbit Science - Vol. 17 (3)-2009
Tabla de contenidos
- Letter from editor: Editorial Board changes and Journal Citation Report
- Main pathologies associated with Staphylococcus aureus infections in rabbits: a review
- Study of urgent visits to commercial rabbit farms in Spain and Portugal during 1997-2007
- Sulfadimethoxine residues in rabbit muscle after extended oral treatment at therapeutic dosage
- Impact of concurrent pregnancy and lactation on maternal nestbuilding, estradiol and progesterone concentrations in rabbits
- Effect of group size and stocking density on productive, carcass, meat quality and aggression traits of growing rabbits
- Technical Note: Rabbit welfare during electrical stunning and slaughter at a commercial abattoir
- Technical Note: A flux chamber for measuring gas emissions from rabbits
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Item type: Artículo , Access status: Abierto , Technical Note: A flux chamber for measuring gas emissions from rabbits(World Rabbit Science. ICTA. UPV, 2009) Estellés, F.; Calvet Sanz, Salvador; Blumetto, O.; Rodríguez Latorre, Andrés Rafael; Torres Salvador, Antonio Germán; Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia[EN] Atmospheric pollution related to gas emissions from livestock production has become an issue of increasing interest. International commitments bind countries to provide annual reports on national emissions, however there is a lack of information regarding the estimation of emissions from rabbit farms. There are several methodologies available to measure gas emissions, the flux chamber technique being one of the most commonly used. In this study, a flux chamber was designed to measure emissions from small farm animals and their manure, as well as the methodology to calculate ventilation fluxes appropriate for each experiment. After the chamber was constructed, two experiments were carried out to test its operation, design and construction. Firstly, carbon dioxide emissions from fattening rabbits were measured for 24 and 48 h. Emissions from fattening rabbit manure were then measured for one-hour periods. The operation of the flux chamber was satisfactory during both experiments and notes were taken of possible improvements in performance through future research. Recommendations for its use are also summarized.Item type: Artículo , Access status: Abierto , Technical Note: Rabbit welfare during electrical stunning and slaughter at a commercial abattoir(World Rabbit Science. ICTA. UPV, 2009) Rota Nodari, S.; Lavazza, A.; Candotti, P.[EN] A total of 1020 crossbreed rabbits were individually examined to evaluate their welfare during electric stunning and slaughter in a commercial abattoir. Stunning (the position of electrodes and repetition of applications of current) and sticking (the position, length and depth of the cut) procedures were checked. The rabbits were monitored behaviourally from the application of the current to death. The stunning system was incorrectly applied one hundred and ten times (10.8%). Three rabbits failed to be stunned and were still conscious at sticking. Eighteen rabbits recovered before the onset of death, as shown by their corneal reflex and in a few cases, vocalization (n=3) and head movement (n=1) were observed. Corneal reflex seemed to be the best indicator of recovery at the abattoir.Item type: Artículo , Access status: Abierto , Effect of group size and stocking density on productive, carcass, meat quality and aggression traits of growing rabbits(World Rabbit Science. ICTA. UPV, 2009) Szendrö, Zs.; Princz, Z.; Romvári, R.; Locsmándi, L.; Szabó, A.; Bázár, Gy.; Radnai, I.; Biró-Németh, E.; Matics, Zs.; Nagy, I.; Instituut Gak[EN] The aim of the experiment was to examine the effect of group size and stocking density on productive, carcass and meat quality traits. The trial was conducted using 230 Pannon white rabbits weaned at 5 weeks and reared until the age of 11 weeks. Seven groups were formed with different cage/pen sizes (group size) and stocking densities: SC16=small cage (0.12 m2), 16 rabbits/m2 (2 rabbits/cage); LC16=large cage (0.50 m2), 16 rabbits/m2 (8 rabbits/cage); LC12=large cage, 12 rabbits/m2 (6 rabbits/cage); SP16=small pen (0.86 m2), 16 rabbits/m2 (13 rabbits/cage); SP12=small pen, 12 rabbits/m2 (10 rabbits/cage); LP16=large pen (1.72 m2), 16 rabbits/m2 (26 rabbits/cage); LP12=large pen, 12 rabbits/m2 (20 rabbits/cage). Stocking density did not affect production significantly, as stocking densities lower than 16 rabbits/m2 had no effect on the growing rabbits¿ performance. Group size (size of the cage or pen) had an effect on certain growth, carcass and meat quality traits. Increasing group size resulted in lower values for weight gain (SC: 39.2>LC: 39.0> SP: 38.7> LP: 37.8 g/d; P=0.22) and body weight (SC: 2506>LC: 2498> SP: 2487> LP: 2446 g; P=0.35), similarly to other results in the literature, but the differences were not significant. Aggressive behaviour was observed to be more frequent in the larger group sizes. At the age of 11 weeks the proportion of rabbits with ear lesions in the SC, LC, SP and LP groups were 0.0, 7.1, 8.7, and 17.4%, respectively, demonstrating that larger group size increases the risk of ear lesions. The effect of group size on the ratio of the fore part to the reference carcass (SC: 28.5, LC: 28.2, LP: 29.0%; P=0.02) and on the amount of perirenal fat (SC: 21.3, LC: 18.0, LP: 13.7 g; P<0.001) was significant. Meat quality traits (dry matter, protein, fat and ash content, drip loss, pH, L*, a*, b* values) were not affected by group size (cage vs. pen), but successful discriminations were performed using the NIRS method.Item type: Artículo , Access status: Abierto , Impact of concurrent pregnancy and lactation on maternal nestbuilding, estradiol and progesterone concentrations in rabbits(World Rabbit Science. ICTA. UPV, 2009) González-Mariscal, G.; Gallegos, J.A.; Sierra-Ramírez, A.; Garza Flores, J.[EN] We evaluated the impact of concurrent pregnancy and lactation on: nest-building (i.e., digging, straw-carrying, hair-pulling), food intake, milk output, body weight, and the concentration of estradiol and progesterone in blood. Digging was lower in pregnant-lactating (PL) rabbits, compared with pregnant-only (PO) does, on 21-23 d (52±64 vs. 104±86 g, respectively; mean±SD; P<0.05). Straw-carrying was also reduced in PL does on 24-26 d (9±27 vs. 79±94 g; P<0.005), 27-29 (27±56 vs. 99±77 g; P<0.005), and in the total amount of material introduced into the nest box (132±167 vs. 286±217 g; P<0.02). Hair-pulling was expressed by practically all animals. Food intake declined in PO does on the three days preceding parturition (P<0.01) and increased markedly during lactation; this increase was much larger in PL than in lactating-only (LO) rabbits (P<0.01). Milk output was similar between PL and LO does during the first 21 d of lactation but a marked decline in this parameter occurred in PL does from then until 30 d. The differences in nest-building between PL and PO rabbits may be related to the concentrations of estradiol and progesterone on specific days of pregnancy. PL does showed significantly higher estradiol levels than PO animals on pregnancy 1 d (33±13 vs. 23±4 pg/mL; P<0.02) and 21 (34±19 vs. 24±6 pg/mL; P<0.05) and also higher levels of progesterone on pregnancy 1 d (4±5 vs. 1±2 ng/mL; P<0.05). However, PL rabbits had lower levels of progesterone on 7 d (6±3 vs. 9±2 ng/mL; P<0.02) and 14 d (8±3 vs. 11±3 ng/mL; P<0.005) than PO does. Our results indicate that the unique endocrine milieu of PL rabbits has a direct bearing on specific behavioral and physiological phenomena that impact productivity on the farm.Item type: Artículo , Access status: Abierto , Sulfadimethoxine residues in rabbit muscle after extended oral treatment at therapeutic dosage(World Rabbit Science. ICTA. UPV, 2009) Barthe, C.; Guicherd, A.; Quillon, J.P.[EN] Sulfadimethoxine is extensively used in rabbit breeding for preventive and curative purpose and residues are sometimes observed in carcasses at slaughter. It has been suggested this is due to dosage and/or duration of treatment not being in compliance with the manufacturer's recommendations, which probably induces residue levels in the meat above the maximum residue limit (MRL) value of 100 ¿g/kg. In order to test this hypothesis, a study was carried out on gravid rabbits and their progeny. The animals were subjected to an extended treatment with sulfadimethoxine at therapeutic level in the feed. The feed was supplemented before pelleting with a commercial veterinary product containing 20 g of trimethoprim and 93 g of sulfadimethoxine per kg. On the basis of the dosage indicated for this commercial veterinary product, the incorporation level in the feed was 5 kg/ton (i.e. 465 g of sulfadimethoxine/ton), providing oral daily therapeutic treatment of the animals of ca. 12.5 to 50 mg of sulfadimethoxine per kg bodyweight. The mothers were treated during the last 21 d of pregnancy and during the whole period of lactation (35 d). The animals were sacrificed after a wash-out period of 12 d with blank feed. The young rabbits received the supplemented feed after weaning during the first 40 d of the fattening period. These animals were also sacrifi ced after a wash-out period of 8, 12, 15 or 20 d, respectively, with a blank feed. A sample of the leg muscle was taken for analysis. An HPLC analytical method was used to determine the sulfadimethoxine concentrations in tissue, with a LLOQ (Lower Limit Of Quantification) of 50 ¿g/kg of muscle (trimethoprim was not considered in this study). Sulfadimethoxine concentrations above the MRL value of 100 ¿g/kg were registered only in muscle from 1 out of 8 mothers and in 2 out of 8 young rabbits sacrificed 12 d after cessation of the treatment. For other young rabbits sacrificed on the 8th, 15th or 20th d after cessation of treatment, Sulphonamide concentrations in muscle always remained below the MRL value (8 animals per slaughtering time). These results show that oral treatment of rabbits with veterinary products containing sulfadimethoxine administered for a long period at the daily therapeutic level of 12.5 to 50 mg/kg does not seem to induce the accumulation of this molecule in muscle.Item type: Artículo , Access status: Abierto , Letter from editor: Editorial Board changes and Journal Citation Report(World Rabbit Science. ICTA. UPV, 2009) Pascual Amorós, Juan José; Departamento de Ciencia Animal; Instituto Universitario de Ciencia y Tecnología Animal; Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingeniería Agronómica y del Medio NaturalItem type: Artículo , Access status: Abierto , Study of urgent visits to commercial rabbit farms in Spain and Portugal during 1997-2007(World Rabbit Science. ICTA. UPV, 2009) Rosell, J.M.; Fuente, L.F. de la; Badiola, J.I.; Fernández de Luco, D.; Casal, J.; Saco, M.[EN] This is a report on work carried out on 4307 visits to 868 commercial farms with domestic rabbits in Spain and Portugal from January 1997 to December 2007. Of the total visits, 2237 (52%) were emergencies on 660 farms. The median size of the farms ranged between 450 does in 1997 and 750 in 2007. This retrospective study measures the clinical disease occurrence using the Monthly Risk of urgent visits (MR), i.e. the percentage of visits made as a result of each clinical disease in comparison with the total number of urgent visits made each month. The main reasons for the emergencies were mucoid enteropathy (similar to Epizootic Rabbit Enteropathy), with a MR: 25.0%, enteritis-diarrhoea (24.1%), myxomatosis, (11.1%), reproductive troubles (8.6%), respiratory diseases (7.2%) and staphylococcosis (4.2%). Fifty-four percent of the urgent visits were due to diseases of the digestive system. Mucoid enteropathy was still one of the main diseases faced by the commercial rabbit industry during the study period. No significant yearly or monthly variations were observed in the analysis of the MR. A seasonal effect was only found in respiratory diseases during the summer (MR: 11.06±0.01) and myxomatosis in autumn (MR: 14.60±0.02), in comparison with spring (MR: 7.44±0.02). It is therefore concluded that farms should be permanently protected as they might be affected by any of these diseases at any time during the year.Item type: Artículo , Access status: Abierto , Main pathologies associated with "Staphylococcus aureus" infections in rabbits: a review(World Rabbit Science. ICTA. UPV, 2009) Corpa, J.M.; Hermans, K.; Haesebrouck, F.; Generalitat Valenciana; Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación; Universidad CEU Cardenal Herrera[EN] Staphylococcus aureus is a versatile opportunistic pathogen that causes a wide spectrum of pathologies. In rabbits, this bacterium infects dermal lesions causing suppurative dermatitis, and invades subcutaneous tissues, causing different well-known disease conditions such as mastitis, abscesses (subcutaneously or affecting internal organs) and pododermatitis. However, the lesions associated with S. aureus have rarely been described in detail in the literature. The aim of this paper is to update the knowledge on rabbit staphylococcosis by focusing mainly on the different pathologies that this organism produces in commercial rabbits.