Cassava root meal in diets for growing rabbits

The effects of substituting imported cassava root meal for barley meal in rations for growing rabbits were examined. Four diets were used. Diet 1 contained 500 g/kg barley meal, the remainder of the diet consisted of soya bean meal, barley straw, vitamins and minerals. Diets 2, 3 and 4 contained increasing amounts of cassava root meal in place of barley meal at 165, 335 and 500 g/kg respectively with L-lysine and DL methionine supplements. A growth trial was carried out using 48 individually caged rabbits from 0.8 kg to 2.0 kg and the digestibilities of the diets were determined in balance trials. Growth rates were similar on all treatments (41.6, 43.1, 40.6 and 41.0 g/d respectively, s.e.d. 2.39), as were dry matter food conversion ratios (2.27:1 overall). The cassava meal appeared to have a digestible energy approximately 1.6 MJ/kg DM higher than that of the barley meal. There appeared to be no adverse effects of feeding diets containing 500 g/kg cassava root meal on animal health. The intrinsic variability in chemical composition of cassava root products is discussed.