Performance of young rabbits fed graded levels of dietary raw soybean

Graded levels (0,5,10,15,20 and 25%) of raw soybean (RSB) were incorporated into sh isocaloric and isonitrogenous diets A,B,C,D, E and F, respectively, and fed ad libitum to forty-eight 6 to 8 weeks old rabbits of the New Zealand white and California strain. Diet A (0% RSB) containing toasted soybean meal served as the control. Feed intake (74.83 +/- 7.06 to 79.31 +/- 7.55 g/day) and feed efficiency (0.15 +/- 0.02 to 0.18 +/- 0.03 g gain/g feed) showed no significant difference (P>0.05) among the treatments which resulted in comparable growth rate (11.7 +/- 2.17 to 14.0 +/- 1.83 g/day) among rabbits on different diets. The dietary incorporation of raw soybean had no significant effect (P>0.05) on percent weight of spleen, kidney, heart, testes and liver. However, RSB inclusion at 25% level led to gross morphological alterations such as inflamation as well as necrosis of hepatocytes with infiltration by lymphocytes. The results indicated that rabbits, unlike other monogastrics (viz. pigs and poultry), do not show growth depression to dietary raw soybean which can be incorporated in their ration up to 20% level for short periods.