Biomass production and nutritive value of different hydroponic fodder species and their effects on growth performance on rabbits

Both hydroponic fodder production and rabbit growth experiments were conducted at Dr. Purnendu Gain Field Laboratory, Agrotechnology Discipline, Khulna University, Bangladesh during the period from 1^st January, 2023 to 31^st April, 2013. The objective was to observe the biomass yield of hydroponically grown forages and their effect on growth performance of rabbits. The experiment was laid out in a completely randomized design (CRD) with four treatments viz. control group fed regular vegetable diet without including hydroponic fodder (T₁), inclusion of corn hydroponic fodder (T₂), inclusion of wheat hydroponic fodder (T₃) and inclusion of jumbo hydroponic fodder with regular diet (T₄). A total of 12 rabbits were divided into 4 treatment groups with 3 replications in each and randomly assigned to 4 experimental diets. Body weight data were measured on a weekly basis. The biomass yield of each forage species was recorded and the chemical composition of the forage was determined. After 15 days the biomass yield was obtained from wheat hydroponic fodder to be 766.0±4.0 g from 250 g seed and the lowest yield was obtained from maize hydroponic fodder to be 574.0±14.0 g from 250 g seed. The highest crude protein (CP) content was found in wheat hydroponics fodder (18.71±0.28) %. The results of this study showed that the growth performance of rabbits on different hydroponically grown forage feeding practices under intensive systems was found to be better than without hydroponically grown forage feeding practices. Group of rabbits fed jumbo hydroponic fodder showed significantly highest weight gain and better feed conversion ratio (FCR). The highest growth rate was found in jumbo hydroponics fodder-feeding rabbits because the highest fiber content and good palatability helped their bodies digest and utilize the feed properly. Further studies should be conducted to determine the appropriate hydroponic fodder for rabbit farmers recommending these practices.

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