Nutrients digestibility in rabbits fed with rami (Bohemeria nivea)

Abstract

This work was carried out with the objective of evaluating the nutrients apparent digestibility of rations containing different levels of rami (Boehmeria nivea) for rabbits. 36 rabbits of the New Zealand White race were housed in metabolism cages through entirely randomized design. The animals received 6 diets with growing levels of milled dehydrated rami in 0, 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50%, supplied ad libitum by an experimental period of 12 days. The results were submitted to the regression analysis and the nutrient digestibility showed the following response to the treatments: lineal effects for dry matter – DM (R2 = 82.35%), crude protein – CP (R2 = 80.00), ether extract – EE (R2 = 91.87) and crude energy – CE (R2 = 83.75), and quadratic effects for neutral detergent fiber – NDF (R2 = 89.42) and acid detergent fiber – ADF (R2 = 86.03). The digestibility of fibrous fraction presented better value with 20% of rami in the diet (42.05% for FDN and 33.90% for FDA), while the protein and energy digestibilities presented better values without rami in the diet (78.22% for CP and 70.95% for CE). Therefore, it can be concluded that low levels to moderate levels of rami inclusion in the diet can be used without promoting a significant decrease in the total digestibility of the nutrients.