Body weight and body condition of breeding rabbits in commercial units

Live BW and BCS data were collected from 2,775 breeding rabbits (644 males and 2,131 females) of 34 genetic types and sorted according to their specialization (maternal, paternal, and others). Data were gathered on 66 visits to 43 commercial farms in Spain between 2009 and 2011. Mean BW was 4.72 kg (range of 2.87 to 8.13 kg, with a median BW of 4.60 kg) and mean BCS was 4.6 (range of 1.0 to 9.0, with a median BCS of 5.0). Females had heavier (P < 0.05) BW than males and paternal lines of rabbits had greater (P < 0.05) BW than maternal lines and other breeds/lines not selected for meat production. Between 69.3% and 75.4% of the rabbits were deemed healthy by a veterinarian and, as expected, healthy rabbits were heavier (P < 0.05) than sick rabbits diagnosed with rhinitis, mastitis, sore hocks, and several other diseases. Among purebred, maternal lines of rabbits, Hyplus GD24, UPV A, and UPV V were heavier (P < 0.05) than Hyplus GD14 and Hyla HL-D lines, and line UPV R had the greatest (P < 0.05) BW among the purebred, paternal lines. Additionally, AxH, AxV, PS19, and PxA crossbreds had greater (P < 0.05) BW than HE-CxD, HL-CxD, HxV, LPxV, and VxP crossbreds among the maternal lines, whereas HE-SL were the heaviest (P < 0.05) crossbred paternal line of rabbits. Additionally, females received greater (P < 0.05) BCS than males and BCS were greater (P < 0.05) in healthy than sick rabbits. Moreover, maternal lines had smaller (P < 0.05) BCS than either paternal lines or other lines/breeds not selected for meat production. Results also indicated a moderate relationship between BCS and BW (r = 0.32), with a 1-point change in BCS equivalent to an similar to 245-g change in BW. Results from this study can be used as baseline figures for breeding rabbits in Spain and are essential factors in several decisions concerning housing, feeding, reproduction, health, and welfare of breeding rabbits.