PERFORMANCE OF WEANED RABBIT FED GRADED LEVELS OF AFRICAN YAMBEAN IN CASSAVA PEEL MEAL BASED DIETS.

The effect of feeding varying levels of African yambean in cassava peal meal based diet was evaluated in a 12 week feeding trial. Thirty two (32) New Zealand white x Chinchilla crossbred weaned rabbits of about 8 weeks old mixed sexes were randomly divided into 4 treatment groups of 8 rabbits each in a completely randomized design. They were allotted to 4 different diets as follows: African yambean based diets, T1 (control 0%), T2 (10%), T3 (20%) and T4 (30%). The rabbits were housed individually in cages and supplied daily with feed and water ad-libitum under a mixed feeding regime where Ipomea batatas leaves was used as forage supplement. Results obtained from this study showed highly significant difference (P<0.05) in body weight gain, feed intake and feed conversion ratio. Results reveal the inclusion of African yambean up to 20% as protein source in cassava peel meal based diets for weaned rabbits without any adverse effect on performance