Apparent digestibility of mixed feed with increasing levels of false flax (Camelina sativa L.) seeds in rabbit diets.

Thirty crossbred rabbits were randomly allocated to three groups each with ten animals (five male and five female rabbits each), and kept individually in separate cages. Three diets were formulated with increasing levels (0, 10, or 15%) of false flax (Camelina sativa L.) seeds (FFS). The experimental period lasted 7 weeks. No obvious health problems were encountered during the experiment. The measured parameters were growth performances and digestibility of dry matter (DM), organic matter (OM), crude protein (CP), crude fibre (CF), ether extract (EE), nitrogen free extract (NFE), neutral detergent fibre (NDF), acid detergent fibre (ADF) and gross energy (GE). The weekly live weight and weight gain did not differ significantly (P>0.05) for among the dietary treatments. Nevertheless, the growth curves of the rabbits showed a major difference between the diet without FFS and the diets with supplementary FFS; the inclusion of 10 and 15% FFS in the rabbit diets decreased the total weight gain by 3.6 and 2.7% compared to the control group, respectively. The digestibility coefficients were calculated according to standard procedures following the indirect digestibility ...............