Impact of season and production system on productivity indices of rabbits under climatic conditions in Egypt

Tawfik, H. M.; Gebril, K. L.; Abdou, S. G.; Omar, Amal S.

doi:10.21608/aasj.2025.455376

Impact of season and production system on productivity indices of rabbits under climatic conditions in Egypt

Document Type : Research article

Authors

¹ Department of Animal Production, Faculty of Agriculture, Al-Azhar University, Assiut 71524, Egypt

² Animal Production Research Institute, Agricultural Research Centre, Ministry of Agriculture, Dokki, Giza, Egypt

10.21608/aasj.2025.455376

Abstract

The aim of the present study is to investigate the effect of rabbit production systems and season of the year on rabbit's productivity. A longitudinal survey was conducted through face-to-face interviews with a structured questionnaire during the two main seasons of the year: almost hot season (from April to September, with an average THI 25.7 ± 1.2) and almost cold season (from October to March, with an average THI 15.8 ±1.9). The highest significant number of litter size at birth, number of fattening kits and total number of weaning kits per doe were detected under the commercial and semi-commercial rabbit production systems as compared to the family system. The commercial system attained the highest significant weaning weight (601.09 g) compared to the semi-commercial (520.83g) and family systems (363.19g). All rabbit productive performance indices (litter size at birth, litter number in season, number of fattening kits at the end of fattening period, weight at weaning, marketing weight, number of weaning kits /doe/years, fertility percentage) were significantly higher under the almost cold weather period compared to the almost hot period.

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