Effect of early weaning on behaviour, blood immunological parameters and performance in rabbits

The aim of the study was to assess the impact of the weaning date of young rabbits on their weight gain, plasma immunoglobulin levels and exploratory behavior. Animals, Termond White rabbits were divided into 2 groups: group I – rabbits weaned at 21 days of age (n = 10), group II – rabbits weaned at 35 days of age (n = 10). The material subjected to analysis was peripheral blood collected on 21, 35, 42, 84 days of life. On these days body weight was also measured. The immunoenzymatic method was used to determine the level of immunoglobulin class M and G. The exploratory examination was performed with open field test (OFT) on the 75th day of the rabbits’ life. During the monitoring period, IgM levels were higher in group II of animals. The mean concentration of IgG was higher in animals from group I. The statistical analyses showed no significant differences between the Control and Experimental groups for IgM and for IgG. Also the differences between age groups were not significant for IgM and for IgG. In an experimental behavioral study, the statistical analysis showed no effect of weaning age on the number of fields explored by the young rabbits. Observing the trend of differences in body weight between animals from the groups, lower gains were shown in group I. However, statistical analysis does not confirm this trend.