Abstract:
Data on a full diallel cross involving three rabbit breeds and its effects
on some growth and reproductive traits were studied. Data on two thousand
and thirteen (2,013) rabbits comprising eight hundred and five (805) purebred
bunnies kindled in 60 litters and one thousand, two hundred and five (1,205)
crossbred bunnies from 86 litters bred from 2010 to 2014 in five parities were
first corrected for the fixed effects of sex, season of kindling and the does‘ age
using the least significant differences (lsd) before the analysis was run using
the Generalised Linear Model. Of the three breeds, the Chinchilla showed
superior performance in both the reproductive and growth performance while
the BV X CH crossbred showed superior performance in most of the economic
traits that were assessed compared to the other crosses. The BV X NZ and NZ
X CH crossbreds recorded significantly (p = <0.05) higher litter size at birth
(6.8±0.1) and at weaning (6.9±0.1) respectively. The heterotic effects of both
the main and reciprocal crosses were quite desirable for most of the economic
traits. Notable among them was the age at sexual maturity, kindling interval
and mortalities which recorded varying levels of negative heterosis. The
reciprocal crosses exhibited some level of superiority in the growth traits
(bunny weight at birth and the post-weaning growth rate) that recorded
positive heterosis. The Chinchilla and BV X CH crossbred comparatively
exhibited a higher level of superiority in the general and specific combining
abilities in a number of the economic traits that recorded significant
differences. The positive heterotic effects encourage the application of
crossbreeding schemes in rabbit production for improved productivity within
the coastal savannah agro-ecological zone of Ghana.
