IOSR Journal of Agriculture and Veterinary Science (IOSR-JAVS) e-ISSN: 2319-2380, p-ISSN: 2319-2372. Volume 14, Issue 1 Ser. I (January 2021), PP 01-06 www.iosrjournals.org DOI: 10.9790/2380-1401010106 www.iosrjournals.org 1 | Page Performance of Growing Rabbits Fed Graded Levels of Ziziphus mauritiana Leaf Meal in a Diets A.S. Badakaya *1 , B. Umar 2 , M.A. Rabiu 3 , B.A. Danhassan 4 123 Jigawa Agricultural Research Institute, P.M.B. 5015,Jigawa,Nigeria 4 Federal College of Agricultural Produce Technology, Kano,Nigeria Abstract An eight weeks feeding trail was conducted to evaluate the performance of growing rabbits fed graded levels of Zizipus mauritiana leaf meal in a diets. Dietary treatment were designated A,B, C and D which were made up to 100% concentrate, 15%, 30% and 45% Ziziphus mauritiana leaf meal inclusion levels respectively, twenty cross bred growing rabbits of both sexes averaged 72.8g, balanced for weight and were used in a completely randomized experimental design. They were tattooed and randomly allocated to four dietary treatments replicated with seven rabbits. The rabbits were allowed one week pre-conditioning (adaptation) period during which the animals were collected for feed intake, weight gain, and feed conversion efficiency was calculated. There were significant (p<0.05) differences in all the parameters considered. Diet D had the highest significant (p<0.05) effect in terms of weight gain with value of 648g compared to others while the control diet recoded the least value with 436g. similarly, diet D was the most consumed and a significant (p<0.05) difference was observed between diet B and C, with the former having a higher value of 124.86g. the result further revealed that as the level of Ziziphus mauritiana leaf increased in the diets lower values for feed conversion efficiency were obtained. This indicates that supplementation with the test ingredient increases the efficiency with which the dies were utilized. Thus diet D, with the most favorable results among the treatments groups is superior to others. It is therefore recommended for growing rabbits. Key words: Rabbits, Leaf meal, feed intake, weight gain, feed conversion efficiency --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date of Submission: 20-12-2020 Date of Acceptance: 03-01-2021 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I. Introduction The acute shortage of animal protein in the diet of the average Nigeria has been reported and one of the ways of solving the problem is by increasing the production of fast growing and early maturing animals like the rabbit (FAO, 1970). In the present economic condition of the country where there is a great increase in the scarcity of animal protein, as well as the high cost of commercial feed, forages now play an important role by being converted into meat as well as being available almost throughout the year (Aduku et al, 1986). The need now arises to change from feeding only concentrate rations as the main diets to supplementing with forages. This would not only reduce the most of feeding but the total cost of production, especially for the small scale producers who could make a substantial contribution to animal protein supplies in developing countries (Adeosun, 2005). Feeding is very important in any livestock production industry as it constitutes 60-70% of the total cost of production. There is need to produce low input system with locally available feed stuffs such as, maize offal, wheat bran, and crop residues from legumes that have no nutritional value to man Most forage feeds for rabbits are garden or farm crops whose leaves could be available for feeding when the crops are harvested (Aduku and Olukosi, 1990). The domesticated rabbit descended from European wild rabbit Orvctolo is cuniculus . They are micro live stock that are kept mainly for meat. There are about 66 different breeds of rabbits that are evenly distributed throughout the world. Rabbits were introduced into England in ‘.he late eleventh to twelfth century. Basically rabbits are classified into fur, fancy and meat breeds Cheeke et al.,1987). The main breeds of rabbits are Chinchilla New Zealand white, California, Dutch, Angora, flemish Giant etc. Rabbits are characterized as small furry animals with long ears and short tails are cheap to purchase, easy to manage no much taboos against eating or keeping them, the animal are quiet friendly and can be raised in the back yard or empty room. They do not usually bite and they are not potential health hazards to raisers (Lebas et al., 1586). Accoding to Iyeghe- Eraktopobor., et a1,(2003) rabbit rearing does not involve heavy capital outlay, therefore, with a little capital a pair of rabbits (male and female) can be bought and multiplied to supply meat for the family and also cash. Akinmutumi (2004) stated that rabbits are herbivores, monogastric and pseudoruminant animals that can effectively and efficiently convert fodder to food, Rabbits have a unique digestive tract that coverts fibrous