Environmental factors affecting litter size and gestation length of three breeds of rabbits

Abstract

Data consisting of 303 records on three different breeds of rabbits ((New Zealand White (NZW), Californian White (CW) and Chinchilla (CH)) were subjected to least squares analysis to ascertain the effects of breed, parity, season and year of breeding on gestation length (GL), litter size at parturition (LSP), alive (LSA) and at weaning (LSW). Least squares means ± SE for GL, LSP, LSA, LSW were 32.4 ± 0.32, 4.7 ± 0.19, 3.7 ± 0.16 respectively. GL was significantly (P<0.01) affected by breed, parity, season and year of breeding, while LSP and LSW were significantly (P<0.01) affected by breed, parity, season and year of breeding. LSA was however, affected by parity and season of breeding only (P<0.001)

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