Meat quality estimates of rabbit as affected by feeding and processing kind

Rabbit meat is of high demand in Nigeria due to its valued nutritional composition and pleasant sensory quality. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of processing methods and feeding type on the nutritional quality of rabbit meat. Three sets of weaned rabbits were subjected to three types of feeding regimes and processing methods and evaluated for vitamins, cholesterol, and proximate composition in a Randomised Complete Block Design experiment. Mean vitamin B1 varied from 0.092 mg (100 g)-1 for cooked rabbit fed with forage to 0.105 mg (100 g)-1 for uncooked rabbit fed with forage with all variances being almost zero. The result of the cluster analysis of the vitamin contents of the rabbit meat indicated that roasted- rabbit fed with forage and cooked rabbit fed with forage and concentrate clustered at the earliest agglomeration distance of 0.128. This was followed by the clustering of cooked rabbit fed with forage and cooked rabbit fed with concentrates at the agglomeration distance of 1.941 and the farthest agglomeration distance of 24.973 was obtained for cooked rabbit fed with forage and roasted rabbit fed with forage. Mean protein of the rabbit meat fell between 17.971 for uncooked rabbit fed with concentrates and 31.489 for cooked rabbit fed with forage and concentrates and the variances forms 2 groups (homoscedastic and independent). The results of the general linear model analysis returned F(8,18:0.05) = 34.58, 55.839.90, 17.75, 23.11, 20.85, 12.32 and 12.36 for ash content, protein, moisture content, fat, crude fibre, carbohydrate and energy that were significant (P < 0.05). Roasting and foraging as established in the present study enhanced nutritional quality of rabbit meat and these offer practical value by addressing consumer demand, advancing quality standards in agricultural production, and recommending optimal processing methods