World Rabbit Science - Vol. 33 (3) - 2025
Tabla de contenidos
- Pheromones and behaviour of rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus): a review
- Effect of conjugated linoleic acid on embryo quality in New Zealand rabbits
- Effect of crossbreeding on growth performance, gene expression and Gompertz modelling in meat rabbit under Egyptian environmental conditions
- Short communication. Constraints and development pathways of rabbit farming in the Southern Philippines: a socioeconomic perspective
- Abstracts of the 49th Symposium on Cuniculture, ASESCU
Reproduction
Genetics
Papers
Abstracts
URI permanente para esta colecciónhttps://riunet.upv.es/handle/10251/226974
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Item type: Artículo , Access status: Abierto , Short communication. Constraints and development pathways of rabbit farming in the Southern Philippines: a socioeconomic perspective(Universitat Politècnica de València, 2025-09-30) Caperida, Gie-ann A.; Aranda, Charo D.; Narita, Rovelito L.[EN] Rabbit farming is emerging as an alternative livestock enterprise in the Philippines, particularly in response to the pork supply deficit caused by African Swine Fever. Despite its technical viability and low production cost, rabbit farming systems in the Philippines remain largely informal and face multiple socioeconomic and market-related constraints. Using a Rapid Rural Appraisal approach, this study engaged 290 rabbit farmers across five provinces to identify key barriers and potential development pathways. Findings revealed that most respondents were smallholder farmers with limited experience, integrating rabbit raising as a supplementary livelihood. The sector is male-dominated, with men older, more experienced and earning significantly higher household income than female raisers. While both sexes tended to raise similar rabbit breeds, males have more rabbits kept and derive income primarily from farming, whereas females are more engaged in non-farming income sources. Major constraints included limited market access, high breeder stock costs, inadequate veterinary and technical services and the absence of structured training programmes. Market-side issues such as low consumer acceptance and the limited availability of rabbit meat in public markets further hindered viability. Despite these challenges, farmers identified practical solutions, including the need for technical training, cooperative marketing, access to starter kits (cages, breeding stock, feeds), and local feed development. These insights underscore the critical need for an integrated support mechanism. Value chain enhancement, market integration and consumer education are essential to promote the growth and sustainability of the rabbit farming sector in the region.Item type: Otros , Access status: Abierto , Abstracts of the 49th Symposium on Cuniculture, ASESCU(Universitat Politècnica de València, 2025-09-30) World Rabbit Science[EN] The 49th Symposium of the Spanish Association of Cuniculture (ASESCU) was held last May in Burgos (Castilla y León; Spain). The event was organised in collaboration with Union de Pequeños Agricultores y Ganaderos (UPA). During the congress, two main lectures were presented. First, Luis Ángel Quintela, from Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, explained how animals use pheromones to communicate and explored their potential to reduce stress and improve animal breeding in farming. Then, Francisco Xavier Mora, from Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, talked about re-emerging diseases found in recent years in rabbit farming. The challenges to face with the possible incoming legislation on rabbit housing were discussed by producers, researchers, rabbit meat distributors, housing manufacturers and livestock associations in a round table. Moreover, four simultaneous and interactive round tables were held during a coffee break, with dynamic discussions on processed rabbit meat products, the new legislation about rabbit health, good farming practices and the use of additives in rabbit nutrition. More than a hundred people joined the congress, including technicians, farmers and researchers. In the following pages you can see the contributions on genetics and reproduction, nutrition, housing and welfare, environmental control and pathology.Item type: Artículo , Access status: Abierto , Pheromones and behaviour of rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus): a review(Universitat Politècnica de València, 2025-09-30) Barrionuevo, Renato; Álvarez, Jacobo; Acción, Antía; Yáñez, Uxía; Sánchez-Quinteiro, Pablo; Martínez, Paulino; Villamayor, Paula R.; Becerra, Juan J.; Peña, Ana I.; Herradón, Pedro G.; Quintela Arias, Luis Angel[EN] Pheromones are defined as substances released by an individual that have a specific influence on physiology, behaviour or development with another individual of the same species. Currently, the term pheromone is used in various disciplines, from psychology to electrophysiology, or to describe various chemosensory stimuli. The present literature review describes the main pheromone receptors and sources in rabbits, including the vomeronasal organ and the olfactory bulb; the main pheromone-producing glands are also described, such as the chin, anal, Harderian, mammary and the brown inguinal, as well as the urine as the major source for pheromonal communication. This review also provides a comprehensive examination of the role of pheromones in rabbit behaviour, integrating perspectives from physiology, behaviour and practical applications in rabbit farming. It delves into the mechanisms of pheromone action by discussing the main receptors and production sites, categorising pheromones in an orderly manner according to their functional roles in rabbits. Additionally, the review synthesises current research on pheromone influence, while highlighting both ecological implications and welfare improvements. By addressing these topics with scientific depth and practical relevance, this work offers an insightful understanding of rabbit pheromones and their diverse roles.Item type: Artículo , Access status: Abierto , Effect of crossbreeding on growth performance, gene expression and Gompertz modelling in meat rabbit under Egyptian environmental conditions(Universitat Politècnica de València, 2025-09-30) Abd El-latif, Ghada; El-Messeiry, Sarah; El-Raffa, Alaa; Abu Aliwa, Intesar; Habashy, Walid[EN] The purpose of this research was to compare the growth performance and gene expression variations in three genetic groups of meat rabbits: Alexandria line (AA), V line (VV) and the cross between Alexandria line males and V line females (AV). For the three genetic groups, which were raised under Egyptian environmental conditions, the studied offspring growth traits were individual weight at weaning (WW, 4 wk) and the end of fattening period (MW, 9 wk) and individual daily weight gain. A total number of 22 bucks, 93 does and 792 kits were used in the study. The Gompertz model was periodically used to examine the rabbits growth. Five kits per group were used to collect liver tissue samples at marketing age (63 d) for gene expression analysis. According to the findings, the AV strain had a body weight of 135 g more than the AA strain and 277 g higher than the VV strain. The AV strain also showed a decreased daily feed consumption and a better feed conversion ratio. With strong coefficients of determination (R²=0.86), the Gompertz growth curve successfully approximated the growth curves for all genotypes. Our results also revealed that VV strain had the highest myostatin expression, while AA and cross strains had the lowest. In contrast, there was a statistically significant difference in the growth hormone receptor (GHR) and the growth hormone secretagogue receptor mRNA levels between the VV, AA and AV strains, with the cross strain having the highest levels of GHR mRNA expression. These findings suggest that the AV strain reached maturity earlier than the AA and VV strains, which is beneficial for optimising growth and breeding processes. Furthermore, rabbits development, metabolism and general health may be affected by hereditary factors that impact gene expression in liver tissues. To better understand the processes at work and their possible uses in breeding programmes, further study is required.Item type: Artículo , Access status: Abierto , Effect of conjugated linoleic acid on embryo quality in New Zealand rabbits(Universitat Politècnica de València, 2025-09-30) Osorio-Terán, Amada Isabel; Hernández-Montiel , Wilber; Abad-Zavaleta, José; Capataz-Tafur, Jacqueline; Meza-Villlalvazo, Victor Manuel[EN] One of the main challenges in commercial rabbit production is the high nutritional demands in primiparous females, which, together with their limited intake capacity, reduces their body fat stores and could be partly responsible for their low reproductive performance. Supplementation strategies with rich sources of polyunsaturated fatty acids in primiparous rabbits could compensate for their low reproductive performance. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to evaluate the addition of increasing levels of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) to the diet of rabbits on embryo development and embryo quality in New Zealand rabbits. Thirty New Zealand females aged 28-30 d and weighing an average of 587.5±35 g at the start of the experiment were randomly distributed into three feeding treatments: T0: (n=10) commercial diet, TCLA1 (n=10): commercial feed +2.5% CLA, TCLA2 (n=10): commercial feed +5.0% CLA, and were fed ad libitum with commercial balanced feed containing 18% crude protein and 12% crude fibre during the experimental phase (120 d). The females were exposed to a male for mating and sacrificed at 72 h postcoitus to obtain the embryos. No significant differences (P>0.05) were observed in the final weight of the animals between treatments. However, females fed with CLA presented a higher body condition compared to the control group (P<0.05). The TCLA2 group females presented an average of 9.5±1.467 embryos recovered per female, showing a significant difference (P<0.05) compared to the TCLA1 and T0 treatments. The embryos from the TCLA1 and TCLA2 treatments presented a higher percentage of excellent and good quality embryos compared to the control group (P<0.05). In conclusion, supplementation with 2.5 and 5.0% conjugated linoleic acid does not affect the final weight of female rabbits but significantly improves their body condition, the number of embryos recovered and embryo quality. These results highlight the potential of CLA as a nutritional tool to optimise reproductive efficiency in rabbit production systems.