BODY CONFORMATION CHARACTERISTICS OF DOMESTIC RABBITS IN HUMID TROPICAL SOUTHERN NIGERIA

Ebegbulem, V. N

Department of Animal Science

University of Calabar, Cross River State, Nigeria

E-mail: vnebegbulem @yahoo.com

ABSTRACT

The body weight (BWT) and linear body measurements (LBM) of 21 grower and 21 breeder, crossbreed rabbits were used for the study. The LBMs were: Head length (HL), Body length (BL), Heart girth (HG), Ear length (EL) and Tail length (TL). The breeders showed significantly higher mean values in BWT and all LBMs than the growers except in TL. Sex, however, did not have any significant influence on BWT and LBMs between the two groups of rabbits, though the bucks’ showed slightly higher numerical values than the does. The correlation matrix showed high, positive and significant values among most of the traits studied (p<0.01). The highest coefficient was between BWT and HG (r=0.848).Results of the regression coefficients showed that HG was the best predictor of BWT, contributing 93% of total variability.

Keywords: Rabbits, Linear body measurements, Bodyweight, Body conformation