Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rdxmf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-27T00:06:56.492Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Herbage intake regulation and growth of rabbits raised on grasslands: back to basics and looking forward

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 April 2016

G. Martin ,
A. Duprat ,
J.-P. Goby ,
J.-P. Theau ,
A. Roinsard ,
M. Descombes ,
H. Legendre  and
T. Gidenne
G. Martin*
Affiliation:
INRA, UMR 1248 AGIR, F-31326 Castanet Tolosan, France
A. Duprat
Affiliation:
INRA, Génétique, Physiologie et Systèmes d’Elevage (GenPhySE), F-31326 Castanet Tolosan, France
J.-P. Goby
Affiliation:
Université de Perpignan, IUT, F-66962 Perpignan, France
J.-P. Theau
Affiliation:
INRA, UMR 1248 AGIR, F-31326 Castanet Tolosan, France
A. Roinsard
Affiliation:
ITAB, F-49105 Angers, France
M. Descombes
Affiliation:
INRA, Génétique, Physiologie et Systèmes d’Elevage (GenPhySE), F-31326 Castanet Tolosan, France
H. Legendre
Affiliation:
INRA, Génétique, Physiologie et Systèmes d’Elevage (GenPhySE), F-31326 Castanet Tolosan, France
T. Gidenne
Affiliation:
INRA, Génétique, Physiologie et Systèmes d’Elevage (GenPhySE), F-31326 Castanet Tolosan, France
*
†E-mail: [email protected]
Get access

Abstract

Organic agriculture is developing worldwide, and organic rabbit production has developed within this context. It entails raising rabbits in moving cages or paddocks, which enables them to graze grasslands. As organic farmers currently lack basic technical information, the objective of this article is to characterize herbage intake, feed intake and the growth rate of rabbits raised on grasslands in different environmental and management contexts (weather conditions, grassland type and complete feed supplementation). Three experiments were performed with moving cages at an experimental station. From weaning, rabbits grazed a natural grassland, a tall fescue grassland and a sainfoin grassland in experiments 1, 2 and 3, respectively. Rabbit diets were supplemented with a complete pelleted feed limited to 69 g dry matter (DM)/rabbit per day in experiment 1 and 52 g DM/rabbit per day in experiments 2 and 3. Herbage allowance and fiber, DM and protein contents, as well as rabbit intake and live weight, were measured weekly. Mean herbage DM intake per rabbit per day differed significantly (P<0.001) between experiments. It was highest in experiment 1 (78.5 g DM/day) and was 43.9 and 51.2 g DM/day in experiments 2 and 3, respectively. Herbage allowance was the most significant determinant of herbage DM intake during grazing, followed by rabbit metabolic weight (live weight0.75) and herbage protein and fiber contents. Across experiments, a 10 g DM increase in herbage allowance and a 100 g increase in rabbit metabolic weight corresponded to a mean increase of 6.8 and 9.6 g of herbage DM intake, respectively. When including complete feed, daily mean DM intakes differed significantly among experiments (P<0.001), ranging from 96.1 g DM/rabbit per day in experiment 2 to 163.6 g DM/rabbit per day in experiment 1. Metabolic weight of rabbits raised on grasslands increased linearly over time in all three experiments, yielding daily mean growth rates of 26.2, 19.2 and 28.5 g/day in experiments 1, 2 and 3, respectively. The highest growth rate was obtained on the sainfoin grassland despite lower concentrate supplementation. Thus, it seems possible to reduce complete feed supplementation without reducing animal performance. This possibility requires improving our knowledge about organic rabbit production systems and especially grazing and animal health management.

Keywords

organic agricultureagroecologyherbage allowancegrazingrabbit
Type
Research Article
Information
animal , Volume 10 , Issue 10 , October 2016 , pp. 1609 - 1618
Copyright
© The Animal Consortium 2016 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Agence Bio 2014. Les Principaux Chiffres de la Bio en France. Retrieved February 15, 2016, from http://www.agencebio.org/sites/default/files/upload/documents/4_Chiffres/BrochureCC/CC2014_chap4_France.pdf Google Scholar
Allden, WG and McDWhittaker, IA 1970. The determinants of herbage intake by grazing sheep: the interrelationship of factors influencing herbage intake and availability. Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 21, 755–766.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Agence nationale de sécurité sanitaire de l’alimentation, de l'environnement et du travail (ANSES) 2014. Évaluation des risques d’émergence d’antibiorésistances liées aux modes d’utilisation des antibiotiques dans le domaine de la santé animale. Official collective expertise report. Retrieved February 15, 2016, from https://www.anses.fr/fr/system/files/SANT2011sa0071Ra.pdf Google Scholar
Belenguer, A, Fondevila, M, Balcells, J, Abecia, L, Lachica, M and Carro, MD 2011. Methanogenesis in rabbit caecum as affected by the fermentation pattern: in vitro and in vivo measurements. World Rabbit Science 19, 75–83.Google Scholar
Chavez, SJ, Siciliano, PD and Huntington, GB 2014. Intake estimation of horses grazing tall fescue (Lolium arundinaceum) or fed tall fescue hay. Journal of Animal Science 92, 2304–2308.Google Scholar
Combellas, J and Hodgson, J 1979. Herbage intake and milk production by grazing dairy cows 1. The effects of variation in herbage mass and daily herbage allowance in a short-term trial. Grass and Forage Science 34, 209–214.Google Scholar
Cooke, BD 2014. Daily food intake of free-ranging wild rabbits in semiarid South Australia. Wildlife Research 41, 141–148.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Diacono, M and Montemurro, F 2010. Long-term effects of organic amendments on soil fertility. A review. Agronomy for Sustainable Development 30, 401–422.Google Scholar
Drinkwater, LE and Snapp, SS 2007. Nutrients in agriculture: rethinking the management paradigm. Advances in Agronomy 92, 163–186.Google Scholar
Dulphy JP, Demarquilly C, Rémond B, L’Hotelier L, Ollier A, D’Hour P, Giraud JM, Bony J and Rouel J 1989. Quantités d’herbe ingérées par les vaches laitières, les génisses et les moutons: effet de quelques facteurs de variation et comparaison entre ces types d’animaux. Annales de zootechnie, INRA/EDP Sciences 38, 107–119. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dumont, B, Fortun-Lamothe, L, Jouven, M, Thomas, M and Tichit, M 2013. Prospects from agroecology and industrial ecology for animal production in the 21st century. Animal 7, 1028–1043.Google Scholar
Duru, M, Therond, O, Martin, G, Martin-Clouaire, R, Magne, MA, Justes, E, Journet, EP, Aubertot, JN, Savary, S, Bergez, JE and Sarthou, JP 2015. How to implement biodiversity-based agriculture to enhance ecosystem services: a review. Agronomy for Sustainable Development, doi: 10.1007/s13593-015-0306-1.Google Scholar
Falkenstein, FJ, Choquenot, D and Jarman, PJ 1995. Functional response of rabbits and sheep in the Central Tablelands, NSW. In MODSIM 1995 international congress on modelling and simulation (ed. P Binning, H Bridgman and B Williams), pp. 150–154. Modelling and Simulation Society of Australia and New Zealand.Google Scholar
Farruggia, A, Dumont, B, D’hour, P, Egal, D and Petit, M 2006. Diet selection of dry and lactating beef cows grazing extensive pastures in late autumn. Grass and Forage Science 61, 347–353.Google Scholar
Franz, R, Soliva, CR, Kreuzer, M, Hummel, J and Clauss, M 2011. Methane output of rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) and guinea pigs (Cavia porcellus) fed a hay-only diet: implications for the scaling of methane production with body mass in non-ruminant mammalian herbivores. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology – Part A: Molecular & Integrative Physiology 158, 177–181.Google Scholar
Freer, M, Moore, AD and Donnelly, JR 1997. GRAZPLAN: decision support systems for Australian grazing enterprises-II. The animal biology model for feed intake, production and reproduction and the GrazFeed DSS. Agricultural Systems 54, 77–126.Google Scholar
Gidenne, T 2015. Le lapin. De la biologie à l'élevage. Quae Éditions, Versailles, France.Google Scholar
Gidenne, T and Lebas, F 2006. Feeding behaviour in rabbits. In Feeding in domestic vertebrates. From structure to behaviour (ed. V Bels), pp. 179–209. CABI Publishing, Wallingford, UK.Google Scholar
Goby, JP, Huck, C, Fortun-Lamothe, L and Gidenne, T 2013. Intake growth and digestion of the growing rabbit fed alfalfa hay or green whole carrot: first results. In 3rd ARPA Conference (ed. Y Raharjo), p. 76. Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia.Google Scholar
Hansen, RM 1972. Estimation of herbage intake from jackrabbit feces. Journal of Range Management 25, 468–471.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hermans, F, Stuiver, M, Beers, PJ and Kok, K 2013. The distribution of roles and functions for upscaling and outscaling innovations in agricultural innovation systems. Agricultural Systems 115, 117–128.Google Scholar
Hodgson, J 1990. Grazing management. Science into practice. Longman Handbooks in Agriculture, Ipswich, UK. 203pp.Google Scholar
Hoste, H, Torres-Acosta, JFJ, Sandoval-Castro, CA, Mueller-Harvey, I, Sotiraki, S, Louvandini, H, Thamsborg, SM and Terrill, TH 2015. Tannin containing legumes as a model for nutraceuticals against digestive parasites in livestock. Veterinary Parasitology 212, 5–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA) (ed.) 2007. Alimentation des bovins, ovins et caprins. Besoins des animaux – Valeur des aliments. Tables INRA 2007. Quae Éditions, Paris, France.Google Scholar
Martin, G, Theau, JP, Therond, O, Martin-Clouaire, R and Duru, M 2011. Diagnosis and simulation: a suitable combination to support farming systems design. Crop & Pasture Science 62, 328–336.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mazzanti, A and Lemaire, G 1994. Effect of nitrogen fertilization on herbage production of tall fescue swards continuously grazed by sheep. II. Consumption and efficiency of herbage utilization. Grass and Forage Science 49, 352–359.Google Scholar
McNitt, J, Way, R, Way, M and Forrester-Anderson, I 2003. Growth of fryers reared and (or) finished using controlled grazing in movable pens. World Rabbit Science 11, 189–198.Google Scholar
Molina Alcaide, E, García, MA and Aguilera, JF 1997. The voluntary intake and rumen digestion by grazing goats and sheep of a low-quality pasture from a semi-arid land. Livestock Production Science 52, 39–47.Google Scholar
Pérez-Prieto, LA and Delagarde, R 2013. Meta-analysis of the effect of pasture allowance on pasture intake, milk production, and grazing behavior of dairy cows grazing temperate grasslands. Journal of Dairy Science 96, 6671–6689.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pérez-Prieto, LA, Peyraud, JL and Delagarde, R 2011. Pasture intake, milk production and grazing behaviour of dairy cows grazing low-mass pastures at three daily allowances in winter. Livestock Science 137, 151–160.Google Scholar
Peyraud, JL, Comeron, EA, Wade, MH and Lemaire, G 1996. The effect of daily herbage allowance, herbage mass and animal factors upon herbage intake by grazing dairy cows. Annales de zootechnie 45, 201–217.Google Scholar
Rayner, E 2012. The functional responses of European rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) on improved and semi-improved pastures in the semi-arid grasslands of Central Otago, New Zealand. MSc thesis, University of Otago, Otago, New Zealand. Retrieved February 15, 2016, from http://hdl.handle.net/10523/2345 Google Scholar
Rotz, CA, Buckmaster, DR and Comerford, JW 2005. A beef herd model for simulating feed intake, animal performance, and manure excretion in farm systems. Journal of Animal Science 83, 231–242.Google Scholar
Short, J 1985. The functional response of kangaroos, sheep and rabbits in an arid grazing system. Journal of Applied Ecology 22, 435–447.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Soussana, JF and Lemaire, G 2014. Coupling carbon and nitrogen cycles for environmentally sustainable intensification of grasslands and crop-livestock systems. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment 190, 9–17.Google Scholar
van Soest, PJ, Robertson, JB and Lewis, BA 1991. Methods for dietary fiber, neutral detergent fiber, and non starch polysaccharides in relation to animal nutrition. Journal of Dairy Science 74, 3583–3597.Google Scholar
Willer, H and Schaack, D 2015. Organic farming and market development in Europe. In The world of organic agriculture. Statistics and emerging trends 2015. FiBL-IFOAM Report (ed. H Willer and J Lernoud), pp. 181–214. Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL), Frick, Switzerland.Google Scholar