Utilization of Skin of Mung Bean Sprouts for Weaning Rabbits

Abstract

Skin of mung bean sprouts (SMBS) is the waste production of mung bean sprouts are available every day in many traditional markets. Nutrient content SMBS supposedly good enough to be used as animal feed, especially rabbits. Two experiments were conducted to investigate the use of SMBS in rabbits. The first study to study the dry matter digestibility  (DMD), every treatment consisted of 3 replications with 3 NZW weaning rabbits each , for 2 weeks experiment. The second study was to study the effect of various levels  of SMBS (0, 10, 20 and 40%) in the ration on the performance of growth for 4 weeks, each treatment has 6 replicates @ 3 weaning rabbits. All data were subjected to analysis of variance and differences between treatments were analysed by LSD. The results obtained showed that DMD of SMBS was quite moderate, 58.9%. It is interesting to note that the use of SMBS up to 40% can improve daily body weight gain (DBWG) 19-25 g /h /d, even up to  3rd week of observation pf DBWG  can reach 29-35 g /h / d, almost equal with results in sub- tropical countries. Inclusion of 40% in the diet lowers DMD of SMBS  and FCR, but did not reduce the consumption and DBWG. Feed conversion of inclusion up to 20% ranged from 2.2 - 2.52 at the beginning of the week and 2.93 – 3.10 at week 4. Inclusion of SMBS at 10, 20 and 40% in the diet lowered  apploximately 6, 12 and 26% of feed price.