Etho-nutritional response of female white New Zealand rabbits during different quarters of the day
Keywords:
Behaviour, Excretion, Rabbits, Sitting, StandingAbstract
Twelve non-lactating female White New Zealand rabbits (3.25 ± 0.20 kg) were randomly selected and housed in separate cages without routine exercise and given 350 g of concentrates and alfalfa green food (ad-lib). An eight-day adaptation period was followed by a five-day behaviour experiment. The animals were observed for their general, specific, and excretion behaviors for 120 consecutive hours, divided into 24 slots of 5 hours each. The animals were observed at an interval of 15 minutes to fill up the behaviour inventory. The data was classified into four quarters of the day, i.e., morning (4–10 hours), noon (10–16 hours), evening (16–22 hours), and night (22-4 hours). For comparing the data, a two-way ANOVA with the replication technique was implemented. The highest sitting posture in the noon (85.69±1.66 m) and standing in the night (85.69±1.66 m); sleeping time in the noon (52.08±1.50 m), eating in the evening (20.00±1.94m), and resting in the night (70.97±2.08 m); and the highest frequency of faecal excretion in the morning (0.63±0.06 times per hour) and urine excretion in the night quarter (0.55+0.08 times per hour) were recorded. It can be concluded that one important component influencing the rabbit's behavior is the effect of different quarters of the day. In the quarter of the night, the rabbits were most active, followed by the morning and evening, whereas in the noon quarter of the day, they were least active.
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