SOME NUTRITIONAL STUDIES ON USING STRAWBERRY ( FRAGARIA × ANANAS) VINE AS HAY IN RABBIT RATION.

Sixty weaning (V line) White rabbits, five weeks old with an average body weight 718± 5 gm were  used and devided randomly into four equal experimental groups (15 rabbits in each) to investigate the effect of replacing  0%,20%,40% and 60% of clover hay by strawberry vines (SBV) as hay in ration (A,B,C and D respectively) which were nearly the same level of crude protein (CP) (iso –nitrogenous) and digestible energy (DE)( iso-caloric k cal DE per 1kg DM). Feeding trial  lasted 56 days( 8 weeks) . All diets were fed in pellets to cover the nutrient requierements of rabbits according to Agriculture Ministry Decree (1996). Body  weight (LBW ) , weight gain (WG ), feed intake and feed conversion were determined. Digestiblity and slaughter trials were carried out at the end of the experiment on three representative animal from each group for estimate nutrient digestibilies. Nutritive values, carcass characteristics and blood parameters were determined . The economic efficiency of the products was also calculated .
 The results showed that the chemical composition of (SBV) was higher in ether  extract EE, nitrogen –free extract ( NFE) and digestible energy (DE), but  it was lower in (OM), (CP), (CF), neutral detergent fibre (NDF%) ,acid detergent fibre (ADF%) and hemicellulose % compared to clover hay. The significantly lowest live body weight and daily body weight gain were recorded for rabbits fed the control diet (A) (without SBV). While the significantly best values were for  20% , 40% and 60% dietary SBV instead of clover hay. Including 40% dietary SBV (C) scored better body weight ,daily weight gain and daily feed intake, besides it had no adverse effect on feed conversion which were insignificantly . Animals fed ration C (containing 40% strawberry vines by – product) tended to significant (P> 0.05 ) higher feed intake at (9-13) weeks and appeard to the best feed conversion at (5-9 weeks). Moreover, group fed ration C had the highest nutrient digestibility and nutritive values.Rabbit dietary 60% SBV instead clover hay were lowet in water consumption and ml W.C. /gm DMI. Slaughter weight ,( hot carcass weight plus edible offal's) were significantly(p> 0.05) increased for rabbits fed SBV hay diets (B,C and D) compared with those fed control diet (A). But  the other parameters of carcass characteristics were not significant . The results showed that replacing  20 , 40 and 60 % of clover hay by SBV hay can be used in rabbit diet to get better net revenue, economical effecincy and feed cost per kg daily gain. Generally it could be shown that the inclusion of strawberry vines by- products with rat of  60% from clover hay in rabbit diets tended to economically effective .