Effect of Cage Density and Dietary Thyme Meal on Growth Performance, Nutrient Digestibility and Carcass Traits of Rabbits

The current investigation was carried out to assess the impact of stocking density (SD: 1, 2 or 3 rabbits/cage) and dietary dried thyme meal (DTM) fortification on male rabbits' growth performance, blood parameters, carcass characteristics, meat composition, and nutrient digestibility in a hot climate. A total of 132 5-wk-old APRI rabbits were randomly divided into two groups, each was subdivided to three subgroups and kept at battery cages. Two experimental diets containing two levels of DTM (0.0 or 2.0 g/kg) were created and employed for the study rabbits between the ages of five and eleven weeks. All rabbits were managed similarly. Growth rate and carcass traits, nutrient digestibility, meat composition and selected blood parameters were determined. Independently from SD, feeding the DTM-containing diets positively affected growth performance of rabbits but daily feed intake was not affected. Apart from dietary DTM supplementation, the final live body weight, daily weight gain, and feed conversion ratio of developing rabbits were adversely affected by an increase in cage SD while daily feed intake was not altered. Nutrient digestibility, carcass traits, meat composition and rabbits' parameters of blood weren't significantly influenced by dietary DTM, cage SD or their interaction. The growth performance of rabbits was not significantly influenced by dietary DTM by cage SD interactions. In conclusion, the obtained results indicate that dietary thyme supplementation (2.0 g/kg) can exert a positive impact on the growth performance, but cage SD should not exceed one rabbit per cage to obtain optimal performance of APRI male rabbits.