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Acta Prataculturae Sinica ›› 2017, Vol. 26 ›› Issue (12): 194-202.DOI: 10.11686/cyxb2017075

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The suitable addition amount of sweet sorghum wilted silage in the total mixed ration of rabbits

XU Neng-Xiang, DONG Chen-Fei, ZHANG Wen-Jie, CHENG Yun-Hui, GU Hong-Ru, DING Cheng-Long*   

  1. Institute of Animal Science, Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences,Nanjing 210014, China
  • Received:2017-03-02 Revised:2017-04-10 Online:2017-12-20 Published:2017-12-20
  • Contact: E-mail:dingcl@jaas.ac.cn

Abstract: The objective of this experiment was to investigate the suitable addition amount of sweet sorghum (Sorghum bicolo) wilted silage in total mixed ration for rabbits. The dynamics of feeding and fermentation quality of sweet sorghum with different wilting times were firstly analyzed, so as to select a suitable wilting time for sweet sorghum harvested at wax ripeness stage. The results indicated that wilting for 5 hours was the optimum time, when water content dropped to 59.7% and the nonstructural carbohydrates content was 8.6%. Four different addition amounts (control, 25%, 30% and 35%) of the 5-hour wilted silage were used to make a total mixed ration (TMR) for rabbits, so as to investigate the effects and identify the optimum addition for rabbit growth and health. Weekly increased weight and biochemical indicators after the test were determined. The results showed that when the addition amount increased from 25% to 35% in TMR, the total weight gain after 5 weeks increased from 871.56 g to 950.25 g. When the addition amount was increased from 30% to 35%, the activities of alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, alkaline phosphatase and lactate dehydrogenase enzyme were lower than in the control group. The results indicate that 30%-35% is the suitable addition amount of sweet sorghum wilted silage in rabbit TMR.