الفهرس 
IntroductionOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
 |  | from | 16 |  |  |
| | | from | 16 | | |
Abstract
Experiments of the present study were carried out at the Rabbits Farm of Sakha Station, Kafr El-Sheikh, Animal Production Research Institute, Agriculture Research Center, Egypt, during the period from March 2014 to July 2014.
The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of different weaning ages (at 25th, 30th and 35th day of age) and two housing models on feed intake, growth performance, some biochemical constituents, hematological parameters and economic efficiency of growing New Zealand White rabbits.
Results obtained could be summarized as follow:
1- Rabbits weaned at 35 days of age at new building had the highest final body weight, while those weaned at 25 days of age at old building had the lowest final body weight in the whole growing period
2- Rabbits reared at new building led to significantly higher daily weight gain as compared with those reared at old building from 5 to 13 weeks of age.
3- Rabbits weaned at 35 days of age recorded significantly lowest mortality rates during the experimental period, as compared with those weaned at 25 or 30 days of age (0% vs. 10 or 7.5%, respectively).
4- White blood cells (x103) significantly (P<0.001) decreased with increasing weaning age. Rabbits weaned early (at 25 days of age) recorded the highest values, while those weaned later (at 35 days of age) had the lowest values (9.58 vs. 7.57 x103/ µl, respectively).
5- Plasma total protein and albumin were significantly increased (P<0.05) with increasing weaning age, while globulin did not significantly affect.
6- Plasma cholesterol and triglycerides were significantly increased (P<0.05 & P<0.01, respectively) with increasing rabbits weaning age.
7- The best value of relative revenue was found in the rabbits weaned at 35 days of age reared in new building (1.53), followed by those weaned at 35 days of age reared in old building (1.51), but the poorest value was recorded with those weaned at 25 days of age in two types of building (1.41).