The effect of a dietary butyrate supplementation on the production of fattening rabbits was examined. The control group (n=70 rabbits) was fed with granulated diet whereas the diet of butyrate group (n=70 rabbit) was supplemented with 0.2% of butyrate. The mortality rate was examined on a larger population (n=1050 rabbits/group). Butyrate group had lower weight gain at the ages of 46-52 and 60-66 days (-20 and 17 %, respectively; P>0.001) but higher weight gain at 53-59 days of age (+13%; P<0.05). Butyrate group consumed less feed than the control group between 38-45, 46-52 and 60-66 days (-2.4%, P<0.001; -5.7%, P<0.01; -4.9%, P<0.05, respectively). The feed conversion ratio of the butyrate group was worse between 46-52 days of age (+19%; P<0.01) but favourable at the ages of 53-59 and 67-73 days (-15% and -9%, respectively; P<0.05). Concerning the whole fattening period the weight gain, the feed intake and the feed conversion ratio of the groups did not differ. In the larger examined population, 4.0% and 6.3 % mortality was observed in the control and butyrate groups, respectively. The parasitological tests resulted only negative samples independently of groups. It can be concluded that dietary butyrate supplementation has not improved the performance of the growing rabbits.

The diversity of livestock animal breeds is an integral part of global biodiversity and requires careful management for sustainability and future availability. Avoiding inbreeding is a crucial aspect of mating of breeding animals. Our aims were to describe the quality of the pedigree, generation interval, gene origin, inbreeding, and effective population size of Danubia Alba rabbit lines. Line “D” is the maternal, whereas lines “C” and “X” are used as the paternal lines. The pedigree information was followed back from the actual breeding rabbits up to the founder animals. The rabbits having offspring in 2023 were chosen as reference populations for each line. The complete generation equivalent (GenCom) was 17.68 for line “C”, 18.32 for line “D”, and 17.49 for line “X”, respectively. The maximum number of generations (GenMax) was above 30 for each line. The estimated bottleneck effect is mostly the result of selection and not a real genetic loss. The Wright inbreeding coefficient (F_Wright) was the highest for the “X” line rabbits, whereas it was the lowest for the line “D”. Kalinowski’s decomposition of inbreeding showed that it originated mostly from the past; the current fixation of alleles was quite similar for the line “C” and “D”. Based on the predicted effective population sizes, it seems that there is no problem in maintaining of Danubia Alba lines.

The effect of two diets with different fibre contents was examined on rabbit does’ performance and parasitological infection. Diet P2 had 1% higher crude fibre, ADF and starch contents than that of diet P1. The performance of 12–12 does and litters per group were examined during two consecutive inseminations. In both dietary groups, according to a 49-day reproduction rhythm, the does were artificially inseminated 18 days after kindling. Most production traits were not affected by the diets (kindling rate, weight of does and their kits, feed intake, mortality; P>0.05). Significant differences were only found in litter sizes as the number of kits was lower in P1 diet fed group at all examined days of lactation. The significant “Diet x Reproduction cycle” interaction showed that the litter sizes of dietary groups did not differ at the first examined insemination, however at the subsequent reproduction cycle 6–8% lower litter sizes were counted in P1 fed does compared to group P2 (litter size at 4 day: 9.00 vs 9.58–9.92, P = 0.004; litter size at 11 day: 8.83 vs 9.58–9.92, P = 0.037 for diet P1 at the 2nd reproductive cycle compared to all the other cases, respectively). The two diets with different compositions did not affect most of the production results of the rabbit does and their kits, but the lower litter size of does consuming P1 diet at the second examined lactation suggests the adverse effect of P1 diet’s long-term use. From the collected manure samples not any parasites were detected which presents a very favourable picture of farm from the point of view of hygiene and animal health.

Objectives: The aim of our study was to perform parasitological examinations on Hungarian rabbit farms, and to report data on the prevalence and morphology of Eimeria species. Materials and Methods: Fecal samples were collected in 13 Hungarian rabbit farms, and 1235 oocysts were evaluated in this study. Results and Discussion: Eight Eimeria species were identified and more Eimeria species were observed simultaneously in 83% of the samples. The Eimeria species occurred in the samples with the following prevalence: E. media 40.3%, E. coecicola 22.5%, E. magna 18.5%, E. perforans 8.3%, E. irresidua 6.8%, E. flavescens 2.7%, E. intestinalis 0.8%, E. piriformis 0.2%. The proportion of species with different pathogenicity varied considerably from one life stage to another. In case of E. media and E. magna, there was a difference between sporulated and non-sporulated oocysts in terms of both width and length. E. media sporulated oocysts were on average 10% longer and wider (p <0.01), while E. magna sporulated oocysts were 6-11% shorter and less wide compared to non-sporulated oocysts (p < 0.05). For the other identified Eimeria species, there was no difference in the dimensions of sporulated and non-sporulated oocysts. Seventy-one percent of oocysts originated from species with weak pathogenicity, while 25 percent were from moderate and 4 percent from highly pathogenic species. The proportions varied considerably in consecutive production phases. The period of lactation (weeks 1-5 of life) is characterized by weakly pathogenic species, moderately and strongly pathogenic ones appeared in proportions below 10 %. In the post weaning period (weeks 6-9 of life), the proportion of oocysts of species classified as moderately pathogenic increased, but highly pathogenic species were not detected. In the final phase of fattening (weeks 10-13 of life), slightly pathogenic species were again present in higher proportions, the proportion of moderately pathogenic pathogens decreased, and a highly pathogenic species of Eimeria (E. flavescens) was also detected.

The most common disease in growing rabbits is diarrhoea, in the development of which parasites can also play a role in addition to bacteria. Among endoparasites, Eimeria species responsible for coccidiosis are detected in most cases in the digestive system of rabbits. This review collects and discuss the scientific literature on different Eimeria species identified in rabbits, such as their life cycles and pathogeneity or their location in the different parts of the digestive system, and possible alternatives to prevention and treatment.

A szerzők munkájának célja parazitológiai vizsgálataik eredményének összesítése volt, valamint új adatok közlése a különböző Eimeria fajok előfordulásáról és morfológiai jellemzőiről. Nagyüzemi nyúltelepekről származó mintákat vizsgáltak: a parazita fejlődési alakok számlálásán felül az azonosított fajok meghatározása, az oociszták síkbeli mérése, továbbá a termelési ciklus fázisai során megállapítható különbségek vizsgálata is megtörtént. Nyolc Eimeria fajt azonosítottak. A különböző patogenitású fajok aránya életszakaszonként jelentős eltéréseket mutatott. Az Eimeria magna és Eimeria media oocisztái méret- és alakváltozást szenvedtek el a sporuláció alatt.