Comparative studies on performance, seasonality, behaviour and fur fibre characteristics of five different breeds of rabbit in temperate agroclimatic conditions

Rabbits are important alternate food animals, commonly used as laboratory animals and cherished as pets. The present study was planned with the aim of evaluating performance, seasonality, behaviour and fur fibre characteristics of different breeds of rabbit: Grey Giant (GG), Californian White (CW), New Zealand White (NZW), Soviet Chinchilla (SC) and Black Brown (BB), in the temperate climatic conditions of Kashmir Valley. The study included 245 matings, 56 does and 470 kits. Litter size was largest (4.70±0.37 kits) and gestation period was shortest (30.39±0.22 d) in CW. A total of 6 models were evaluated for studying the effects of age expressed in weeks, breed, their interaction and individual variations on body weights and growth. The effect of age was found to be significant across all models. The interaction between breed and week was significant for 3rd, 4th, 6th and 7th week. The highest mortality was observed in the first week for CW, NZW and BB, in the second week for GG, and in the fourth week for SC. Overall, the kindling rate (25.81) and kit index were highest in CW (121.19). During winter, spring and summer, GG, CW and BB, respectively, showed the highest kindling rate and kit index. Lowest mortality (16.86±6.09) was seen in SC rabbits. SC kits were the fastest to open their eyes after birth and fur appeared fastest in CW after birth. The highest percentage of CW and NZW does, as well as kits, were docile in behaviour, whereas bucks of all breeds were either active or very active. Fur fibre of CW showed more fibre length, whereas fibre diameter was higher in the case of NZW. The highest medullation percentage was seen in SC and in all the rabbit breeds. It was concluded that best performance was shown by CW in terms of having the largest litter size, shortest gestation period, better kindling rate and kit index, higher docility, fastest fur fibre appearance and better fur fibre characteristics.