Comparative study among Soviet Chinchilla rabbit, an indigenous rabbit of Meghalaya and a black hybrid rabbit under agro climatic conditions of Meghalaya, India

This work had the aim to meet the demand of local tribal people of the North eastern hills (NEH) region and to evaluate the beneficial heterotic effects of crossbreeding, developing a black-coated rabbit through the crossing of Soviet Chinchilla and indigenous local rabbits, followed by selection and line breeding to maintain the exotic blood level at 50%. Afterwards, a comparative study was done analyzing the different performance traits of Soviet Chinchilla, indigenous local rabbit and the resulting hybrid black rabbits. Data analysis revealed breed-dependent (P < 0.01) effect on all productive traits except on live weight at 60 days. The hybrid black rabbit developed through crossbreeding and line breeding was better than both, the indigenous local rabbit and the Soviet Chinchilla rabbits in terms of live weight at 60, 75 and 90 days of age, live weight gain and average daily gain during 45 to 60 days, 60 to 75 days and 45 to 90 days of age. Overall, mean growth during the period of 45 to 90 days of age in black, local and Soviet Chinchilla rabbits was recorded to be 18.71 +/- 0.11, 17.60 +/- 0.16 and 16.23 +/- 0.21 g per day, respectively. The average air temperature, maximum temperature, minimum temperature and relative humidity during the period of this experiment was 24.44 degrees C, 27.16 degrees C, 16.54 degrees C and 66.16%, respectively. Finally, this research demonstrated that deliberate selection in rabbits leads to improvement in quantitative productive traits.