Aïssatou ALI MOUSSA^1,, Roland ZIEBE², Aimé Christian NDIH², Lazard VONDOU², Madi ALI², Yakouba BLAMA²

The effect of the substitution of maize by spent grains of bili-bili on the zootechnical performances and the haematological profile of the rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) was carried out on 60 young rabbits of 5 weeks age of 678 ± 26.3 g, randomly and equitably allocated among four batches in different levels of spent grain of bili-bili (0-25-50-75%). If improvements are observed for the differents diets rates, that of 25 SB showed the highest improvement rate with values of 148.71 ± 13.20 g; 21.78±1.63 g/d; 69.5±17.54 and 3.21 ± 0.25 respectively for the average daily gain (ADG), body weight gain (BWG), the daily food intake (DFI) and the consumption index (CI) which are within the range of balanced rabbit diet. There is no significant variation for the different treatments on carcass yields, but improvements were observed for the 25SB substitution (63.01 ± 5.7%). No mortality was recorded and the rabbits showed a good hematological profile for the different treatments, i.e. 33.1-45.1% (lymphocytes); 5.3-9.1x10⁹/l (white blood cells) and 3.95-6.23 x 10¹²/l (red blood cells). Economically, the production cost of 1kg of rabbit drops drastically with a substitution rate of 75 SB from 1870 FCFA to 1280 FCFA, moreover, it is 25 SB which brings the best growth performance and the best ratio price/quality.

rabbit, bili-bili’s spent grain, diet, zootechnical performance, hematology