This study was conducted to assess the effect of breed, season, age and weight of doe at mating on reproductive performance of 4 broiler rabbit breeds, Grey Giant, White Giant, Soviet Chinchilla, and New Zealand White, reared under standard management practices in sub-temperate climatic conditions of India. They were first mated at 6 to 7 mo of age, whereupon an extensive breeding system (re-mating after weaning) was followed. Weaning was done 42 d after kindling. The data from the records on reproduction consisting of 503 matings and 377 kindlings were analysed. The parameters considered were fertility rate, litter size at birth (LSB), litter weight at birth (LWB), litter size at weaning (LSW), litter weight at weaning (LWW), doe weight at mating (DWM), gestation length and sex ratio. Among 4 breeds, the LSB, LWB and LSW were higher in Grey Giant followed by White Giant, Soviet Chinchilla and New Zealand White. The LSB and LSW in Grey Giant breed differed significantly (P<0.05) from Soviet Chinchilla and New Zealand White. Season had significant (P<0.05) effect on LSW with higher values during spring (5.68±0.24), followed by summer (5.29±0.30), winter (5.13±0.25) and autumn (4.17±0.49). The body weight of doe at service significantly influenced fertility. The fertility increased as body weight increased. The age of the doe at mating had a significant effect on LSW, with higher values for does more than 2 yr and less than 1 yr old compared to 1- to 2-yr old does. The parity did not affect any of the parameters studied. It is concluded that the factors studied affect the reproductive performance of rabbit does. Grey Giant breed showed the highest litter size at birth and weaning, and the highest litter size and weight at weaning was in spring.

The influence of season, parity, age and weight of doe at service on the reproductive efficiency of female German Angora rabbits has been studied. Nulliparous German Angora rabbits of 4 5 months of age were imported from Germany in August, 1997 and reared under standard management practices. They subjected to an extensive breeding system (re-mating after weaning). The kits were weaned 42 days after kindling. The data from the reproduction records of 149 does, consisting of 398 matings and 238 kindlings during a period of five years, (1998 to 2002) were analyzed. The parameters considered were fertility rate, litter size at birth (LSB), litter weight at birth (LWB), litter size at weaning (LSW), gestation length and sex ratio. The overall fertility percentage, LSB, LWB (g), LSW (g), gestation length (d) and sex ratio percentage were 61.18, 4.89, 253.88, 4.44, 31.95 and 53.94, respectively. The season of the year had a significant (P#0.05) effect on LSB, LWB, LSW and gestation length, with higher values of LSB, LWB and LSW in spring. The fertility rate was significantly higher (P#0.05) for the females of 1 to 2 years of age. Spring appears to be the most favorable season for efficient reproduction of German Angora rabbits under the sub-temperate climatic conditions found in India.

Experiment was conducted on 54 adult male German Angora rabbits distributed into 3 groups of 18 rabbits in each. Rabbits in T(1) were given 140 g pellet feed whereas in T(2) and T(3) groups were given 110 and 80 g pellet/day. The rabbits in all the groups were given ad lib. fresh wilted roughage. Feed intake and body weight was monitored fortnightly. Rabbits were weighed and sheared after 75 days interval and the experiment was conducted for 375 days up to 4 consecutive shearings. Wool production of 5 consecutive shearings was recorded. Initial body weights of rabbits were 3.13 kg, 3.12 kg and 3.04 kg in T(1), T(2) and T(3) groups, which were 3.28 kg, 3.03 kg and 3.07 kg, respectively, in these groups by the end of fifth shearing. Level of concentrate in the diet did not have any marked effect on body weight. The annual wool yield was 803 g, 772.4 g and 767.4 g in T(1), T(2) and T(3) groups, which was significant among treatments, although there were no differences between T(2) and T(3) groups. Significant differences were recorded for daily dry matter intake between groups, and also for the digestibility of dry matter, crude fibre and ether extract. Per cent mortality was 11.1 each in T(1) and T(2) and 27.8 in T(3) group. Dry matter required for producing 100 g wool was 7.35 kg in T(1), 6.46 kg in T(2) and 5.62 kg in T(3) group. It is concluded that as almost similar wool production and mortality was observed in groups fed 110 and 140 g concentrate per day along with fulfilling the daily protein requirement, feeding of 110 g of concentrate was found adequate in adult rabbit for economical Angora rabbit production.

An experiment was conducted on 72 German Angora rabbits (42 youngs and 30 adults) divided into three groups to assess the effect of three experimental diets (T1, T2 and T3) with different levels of groundnut cake replaced by rice bran on their growth performance, wool yield, quality, and digestibility of nutrients. The inclusion rate of groundnut cake was decreased from 20 to 15 to 10% and that of rice bran increased from 13 to 18 to 23% in T1, T2 and T3, respectively. The same diets presented 16.1, 15.1 and 14.0% DM of crude protein and 11.3, 11.1 and 10.9 MJ/kg DM of digestible energy, respectively. All animals were kept under similar housing and management conditions and the experiment was continued for a period of 225 days (3 shearings). No significant effects of the experimental diets on body weight gain, wool yield and wool attributes were observed in young and adult rabbits. However, the wool yield at the 2nd shearing was higher in the T1 group (P<0.05) indicating the positive effect of a diet higher in protein and energy on the wool production at an early stage of growth. Voluntary intake both of concentrates and roughages were not affected by the dietary treatment. The digestibility coefficients of dry matter and crude fibre were increased both in young and adult rabbits with the reduction of groundnut cake, while those of crude protein and ether extract were decreased in young rabbits only. From this experiment it can be concluded that groundnut cake can be safely replaced with rice bran in adult feeds at rates of up to 10% of the total content, while in young rabbits it may not be advantageous to go above a 5% level of replacement to avoid a substantial reduction in protein concentration, and the impairment of growth and wool production.

Trichobezoars (formations of hair balls that can not pass through the pyloric valve) are responsible of some of deaths observed in Angora rabbirs. A total of 160 trichobezoar deaths corresponding to 28.6% of total deaths were recorded during a reported period of five years. The highest mortality due to hair balls was recorded in 2001 (36.4 %) and was least in 1999 (9.4%). Of the four breeds, the highest trichobezoar death records were obtained in Russian Angoras and the lowest in German Angoras. Trichobezoars occur more frequently in winter months than other months. Besides trichobezoars, other causes of death recorded were pneumonia, suppurative pneumonia, peritonitis, rupture of stomach, gastroenteritis, cardiac failure and a small number of miscellaneous causes. In most of the cases, large, single trichobezoars were located in the stomach. The stomach contents of the trichobezoar deaths were mainly watery and scanty faeces and hard semisolid faeces. The ball obstructed the stomach occupying the opening of the pyloric valve. Pathomorphological lesions were noted in stomach, liver, lungs, heart and kidney.

An experiment was conducted on 38 adult angora rabbit divided into two equal groups to study the utilization of mulberry leaves as compared to control. Rabbits in T-1 group were offered 110g of concentrate pellets and ad libitum green grass. In T-2 group rabbits were given 80g of concentrate, ad libitum green grass and remaining 30 g of concentrate was supplemented through 200 g of fresh mulberry leaves. The experiment was conducted for a period of 225 days. Initial body weight in T-1 and T-2 groups was 3.14 kg and 3.14 kg respectively. At the end of 311 shearing (at 225 d) the respective body weights were 3.16 kg and 3.10 kg in both the groups, and the differences were non-significant. The total average wool production in three shearing in these groups was 431.5 g and 421.8 g in T-1 and T-2 group while the wool yield/shearing as 130.8g and 125.3g respectively. Total dry matter intake in T, and T-2 group was 139.3 +/- 8.3 g and 162.8 +/- 5.3 g respectively. Proportion of mulberry leaves in daily dry matter intake was 40.72 %. Nonsignificant differences were recorded for staple length, fiber diameter, medullation percent, pure fiber and guard hair. Significant differences were recorded for the digestibility of crude fiber and ether extract. Dry matter required for producing 100 g wool was 7.84 kg in T-1 and 9.12 kg in T-2 groups with the respective cost as Rs. 49.82 and 41.66. From this experiment, it may be concluded that the mulberry leaves can successfully replace upto 28% of concentrate from the daily concentrate requirement of adult angoras.

This study was undertaken to find out the effect of non-genetic factors on growth and reproductive performance of White Giant rabbits under the sub-temperate conditions.

Abscess is a common condition in domestic rabbits affecting all age groups. The majority of the abscesses in rabbits are caused either by Pasteurella multocida or Staphylococcus aureous (Flatt, 1974; Okerman, 1988). This is a record of pulmonary abscess in Angora rabbits.

Reproductive capacity of does is one of the most important economic traits in meat production of rabbits. Khalil et al., (1986) observed that heritability estimates for preweaning traits have a broad range among reports. The dissimilarity of the estimates could reflect real differences among populations and environmental conditions, but it could be partly due to different methods and models used. The aim of this study is to know the genetic potential of Grey Giant rabbits under the temperate climatic condition.

Data on 586 German Angora rabbits maintained at North Temperate Regional Station, CSWRI, Garsa, Distt. Kullu (HP) of five years period was utilized to study least square analysis of variance. Effects of non-genetic factors such as sex, year of birth and season significantly increased the wool yield of German Angora rabbits.

The altitude-specific quality of pashmina fibre obtained from the breeding tract of Chegu goats reared under farmers management in Himachal Pradesh was studied. 25 random samples of pashmina obtained from different locations at variable altitudes across the breeding tract were used in the quality analysis. The mean values of fibre length, fibre diameter and % clean fibres based on all the samples drawn at random was estimated to be 2.71 ± 0.13 cm (1.95–4.40 cms), 13.95 ± 0.43 μ (8.20–20.90 μ) and 96.33 ± 0.30% (91.50–99.00%), respectively. The effect of altitude and agro-ecological situation was observed to be highly significant on fibre diameter indicating improvement in fibre diameter with increasing altitude and shift towards more frigid, arid and temperate climatic conditions of the habitat. The effect of altitude and agro-ecological conditions was, however observed to be statistically non-significant on other fibre quality parameters like fibre length and per cent proportion of the clean and medullated fibres.

An experiment was undertaken on 138 German Angora weaners divided into 3 equal groups of 46 each, kept individually in standard size iron cages and provided similar housing and management. After first shearing at the age of 50 days; rabbits of the group 1,2 and 3 were sheared at 65, 70 and 75 days interval, respectively, from second to seventh shearing. Parameters recorded were body weight after shearing (kg), wool yield (gm), staple length (em), fiber diameter (/Lm), medullation (%) and guard hairs ~%). In each group, significant gain in the body weight was observed from second to seventh clip; however, between groups this gain was significant (P<0.05) from second to fourth shearing. At seventh shearing body weights in all groups were same. Overall pooled body weights for each group had a non-significant increase with decrease in the shearing interval from 75 to 65 days. For wool yield no definite trend was recorded, however, the correlation between the body weight and wool yield for different groups was highly positive. Average pooled wool yield for group 3 was significantly (P<0.05) higher than the group 1 and 2, and was numerically more ingroup 2 than group 1. However, the wool yields per clip in the group 1 and 2 were obtained at the lesser age of rabbits than group 3. The staple length decreased significantly with decrease in the shearing interval. The pooled staple length at 70 days shearing interval was more than 5 ems (first class wool) as desired for the spinning of yarn. Decrease in the shearing interval made fibers finer; but had no effect on the medullation and guard hairs. Thus, it was concluded that the shearing at 70 days interval is practically more profitable and could be implemented under Indian conditions for better wool production.

Rabbit husbandry has vast potential to improve the socio-economic status of the rural poor and to provide food security in terms of low cost animal protein. The total rabbit population of the country is about 406000. Out of the 28 states and 7 UTs surveyed, 27 states and 5 UTs, have rabbit population. Rabbit is highly prolific. A female rabbit, through its progenies can produce up to 80 kg of meat per year i.e. 2900 to 3000% of her live weight. Meat production in India is reported to be between 5000 and 19000 tonnes/year. Angora wool production is 25 to 30 tonnes per year, which is 1% of estimated global production. In rabbit breeding, several production and reproduction traits were studied in relation to genetic improvement programme through selection of individual. The estimates of different genetic parameters in relation to production and reproduction traits have been discussed. Heritability estimates for different parameters, meat production/meat quality and pelt quality were also studied. Reports on mortality pattern have also been analyzed. Areas for future rabbit research in India have also been discussed in view of present research status and future needs.