World Rabbit Science - Vol. 31 (4)-2023
Permanent URI for this collection
Tabla de contenidos
Nutrition
- Growth performance of three paternal rabbit lines with different potential for growth rate and resilience
Reproduction
- Improving indigenous Vietnamese Black Rabbit frozen sperm quality: the role of glycine and sperm selection methods
Meat
- Preslaughter feed withdrawal time and its effect on rabbit blood measures, gastrointestinal tract parameters and Longissimus lumborum glycolytic potential
Management
- Extensive husbandry and animal welfare are important for acceptance of rabbit meat production among Swedish youth
Pathology
- Survey of the seasonal dependency of Eimeria oocysts and Passalurus ambiguus infections in industrial rabbit farms
Browse
Recent Submissions
- PublicationImproving indigenous Vietnamese Black Rabbit frozen sperm quality: the role of glycine and sperm selection methods(Universitat Politècnica de València, 2023-12-27) Tran, Thi-Thanh Khuong; Duy, Nguyen Lam Khanh; Hang, Nguyen Thuy; Ngoc, Phan Kim; Tuyen, Duong Nguyen Duy; Can Tho University[EN] Rabbit sperm are known to undergo damage during both cryopreservation and thawing, leading to decreased viability, motility and membrane integrity. Glycine can protect sperm and reduce damage during freezing. Swim-up is a simple semen processing method for selecting good motile sperm. The study evaluated the effect of the swim-up method and glycine with different concentrations supplemented to the frozen medium. Three indigenous black rabbits were selected for semen collection by artificial vagina. Next, semen was selected by swim-up method and diluted with glycine-added frozen medium. The samples were then transferred to 0.5 mL straws, cooled to 15°C and 5°C, placed in liquid nitrogen vapour, and finally placed directly into liquid nitrogen (-196°C). The samples were thawed and evaluated for sperm quality. The results showed that the medium supplemented with 10mM glycine in combination with swim-up method for 30 min gave the best results and was significantly different from the remaining concentrations (P<0.01), with viability rate, overall mobility and membrane integrity of 68.0%, 58.7% and 49.7%, respectively. In conclusion, 10 mM glycine concentration combined with swim-up for 30 min is the optimal choice for freezing local black rabbit semen. The study highlights the importance of optimising freezing protocols to improve the quality of frozen rabbit sperm, which can have important implications for animal breeding and conservation efforts.
- PublicationSurvey of the seasonal dependency of Eimeria oocysts and Passalurus ambiguus infections in industrial rabbit farms(Universitat Politècnica de València, 2023-12-27) Demeter, Csongor; Matics, Zsolt; Demeter-Jeremiás, Anett; Sándor, Ferenc; Gerencsér, Zsolt; Német, Zoltán[EN] A major problem of large-scale rabbit farming is digestive diseases. Relatively few data on parasitic diseases of industrial rabbit populations are available. The aim of the study was to evaluate the seasonaldependent incidence of Eimeria spp. and Passalurus ambiguus infections at large-scale rabbit farms. The survey was carried out between 2018 and 2022 at 29 Hungarian and 2 Slovakian rabbit farms. Altogether, 7612 faecal samples were examined. Eimeria oocysts and P. ambiguus eggs were detected on all rabbit farms examined, although only a relatively small portion of faecal samples was found positive. Eimeria oocysts and P. ambiguus eggs were found in 32 and 6% of the samples, respectively. Our findings for the seasonal-dependent evaluation of collected data showed that the highest proportion of Eimeria positive samples occurred during the summer (35.3%) and autumn (36.2%) periods. In winter, a significantly lower infection rate was found (29.5 %; P<0.05). The most favourable results were observed in spring (25.1%; P<0.05). As for P. ambiguus, the highest rate of infection was measured in spring (8.4%) and the lowest in summer (4.5%; P<0.01). The autumn and winter periods showed intermediate results (6.7 and 5.5 %, respectively).
- PublicationExtensive husbandry and animal welfare are important for acceptance of rabbit meat production among Swedish youth(Universitat Politècnica de València, 2023-12-27) Gunnarsson, Saga; Thulin, Carl-Gustaf[EN] Global meat production and consumption are increasingly unsustainable. One way to counteract this development is to change the type of meat consumed. Rabbit meat has relatively lower climate impact than many other types of meat, but consumer acceptance is crucial for a socially sustainable production. In this study we examine the acceptance of industrial, extensive and urban rabbit production among Swedish senior high school youth, 17 to 19 yr old. An electronic survey was sent to ten randomly selected senior high school classes with 17 to 19 year-old students. The survey included inquiries about background, scaled responses and open-end questions with the opportunity to comment. A total of 111 students completed the survey, of which 62 were women, 74 from rural areas and 91 with previous animal experience. Extensive production was more accepted than industrial and urban production, while no difference was observed between industrial and urban production. Thus, the results advocate a farming system with more animal movement, less productivity and higher space requirements. In general, male respondents were more accepting of all production systems than women, while no difference could be detected between rural and urban citizens. The scaling shows that animal welfare, local production and meat quality was given priority over climate impact, biodiversity and price. Our study suggests useful prerequisites to consider for the meat industry in general, and for the development of Swedish rabbit production.
- PublicationPreslaughter feed withdrawal time and its effect on rabbit blood measures, gastrointestinal tract parameters and Longissimus lumborum glycolytic potential(Universitat Politècnica de València, 2023-12-27) Larivière-Lajoie, Anne-Sophie; Laforge, Pascal; Vincent, Antony Tony; Binggeli, Simon; Cinq-Mars, Dany; Guay, Frédéric; Raymond, Frédéric; Dalmau, Antoni; Saucier, Linda; Ministère de l'Agriculture, des Pêcheries et de l'Alimentation, Canadá[EN] This study aimed to characterise the physiological response of rabbits to feed withdrawal without stress caused by crating and transport to the slaughterhouse. A total of 72 recently weaned Grimaud rabbits were allocated into 12 cages, each with 6 rabbits (3 females and 3 males, to reflect commercial practices). A preslaughter feed withdrawal time (FWT) was randomly assigned to each of the 12 cages (t=0, 3, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22 or 24 h). Blood lactate and cortisol concentrations were measured at exsanguination. These observations did not indicate an elevated level of stress in the rabbits (P>0.05). The maximum Longissimus lumborum glycolytic potential was observed for rabbits that fasted for 3 and 6 h and was relatively stable from 127.78 to 139.04 μmol/g for rabbits with FWT longer than 12 h. As expected, gastrointestinal tract and stomach content weights were lower for rabbits with longer FWT (P<0.0001), while caecum weights did not (P=0.051). Rabbits with longer FWT had lower stomach pH and higher caecum pH (both P<0.0001). Metataxonomic 16S analysis revealed that FWT had a significant effect (all P<0.01) on microbiome beta diversity in faeces and caecum. The polymerase chain reaction analysis using specific primers revealed Enterobacteriaceae presence in the faeces of male rabbits only at 18 and 22 h. Our results suggest that the caecotrophic behaviour of rabbits allows them to be particularly resistant to hunger despite their small size. However, to limit Enterobacteriaceae shedding, the FWT should not exceed 18 h.
- PublicationGrowth performance of three paternal rabbit lines with different potential for growth rate and resilience(Universitat Politècnica de València, 2023-12-27) Peixoto-Gonçalves, Catarina; Martínez Paredes, Eugenio Melchor; Ródenas, Luis; Corpa, Juan Manuel; Blas, Enrique; Cambra López, María; Pascual Amorós, Juan José; Departamento de Ciencia Animal; Instituto Universitario de Ciencia y Tecnología Animal; Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingeniería Agronómica y del Medio Natural; Agencia Estatal de Investigación; Generalitat Valenciana[EN] This experiment aimed to compare the growth performance, digestive efficiency and health status of three paternal lines for growing rabbits. The R line was selected by growth rate during the growing period for 37 generations; the RF line was founded by selecting a population of elite R animals (average daily gain>60 g/d); and the RFLP line was founded by backcrossing males from the RF line with females from the LP maternal line. A total of 387 weaned rabbits were used to evaluate growing performance from weaning until 63 d of age in individual cages, in three batches. Additionally, 33 animals were used to determine nutrient digestive efficiency in a digestibility trial. Body weight and feed intake were controlled at weaning (28 d), 46 and 63 d of age. Mortality and morbidity were also monitored daily. During the digestibility trial, feed intake and faeces excretion were controlled daily. Results showed no significant effects of genetic type on body weight, daily feed intake and feed conversion ratio throughout the experiment. However, RF animals had a higher average daily gain from 28 to 46 d of age (+4.4%; P<0.05) compared with R animals, but lower from 46 to 63 d of age (–4.3%; P<0.05). Regarding digestive efficiency, RF and RFLP lines showed slightly higher faecal digestibility for dry matter and gross energy of the diet compared with the R line (+1.3 percentage points; P<0.05). Mortality was higher in animals from R and RF lines compared with RFLP (on av. 25.40 vs. 14.06%; P<0.05). Our results suggest that the introduction of resilient genetics could be a suitable strategy to improve the digestive health of paternal lines without affecting significantly their growth performance.