When agricultural waste are promoted as nutritional sources in rabbit nutrition

This study was carried out with the objective of evaluating the use of sweet potato vines (SPV) in replacement of alfalfa hay in diets for growing rabbits. For this, data on: performance, composition and color of the meat, digestive enzymes, intestinal morphology and economic viability were analyzed. Fifty New Zealand White rabbits were used, weaned at 35 days with a body weight of ± 585 g, for 49 days. The animals were distributed into one of five dietary groups: 0SPV - control diet; 25SPV, 50SPV, 75SPV and 100SPV - diets with 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% SPV in replacements for alfalfa hay respectively. The data were subjected to normality testing and analysis of variance, and compared using the Tukey test (p < 0.05). The results showed that the inclusion of BBD differed in the initial phase, causing a reduction in consumption, reflecting on the live weight of the animals in the 75SPV and 100SPV treatments. However, in the total experimental period there were no significant changes in daily feed consumption, mass gain and conversion. The SPV caused a decrease in chymotrypsin activity, but did not affect trypsin. However, villus height was lower in 50SPV than in other treatments. No differences were observed in the compositions and color of the muscle. Regarding economic viability, the increasing replacement of SPV linearly reduced costs, reaching 35% in the 100SPV experimental diet. It can be concluded, based on the data studied, that SPV can be used as a replacement for alfalfa hay up to 100% in diets for growing rabbits.