EFFECTS OF SEASON , GENERATION , NUMBER OF MATING , PARITY AND DOE NUMBER OF TEAT ON DOE AND LITTER BIRTH CHARACTERISTICS IN DOMESTIC RABBIT

Records of 866 kits born in 203 litters over a peri od of 132 weeks were used to evaluate the effects o f season of birth (raining, dry) on litter birth char acteristics. Other factors investigated included th e effects of generation of birth (1, 2), number of ma ting (1, 2), parity (1, 2, 3, 4) and doe number of teats (8, 9, 10). Other traits investigated included gest ation gain (GG), kindling loss (KL), litter size at birth (LSB), neonatal mortality (NEOM), live birth percen tage (LB), mortality per litter (ML), litter weight (LWT) and mean kit weight (MKW). Gestation gain was t ken as the difference between doe weight at mating and the weight taken one day pre-partum. Kindling loss was taken as the difference in doe weight one day prepartum and its weight immediately after kindling. Litter weights divided by number of individuals for each litter gave the mean kit bi rth weight, while the gestation length was obtained as the difference between the dates of successful mati ng nd kindling. Out of the 866 kits produced in two generations, 371 were born in the rainy season (April to September) and 495 in the dry season (October to March). Season of birth did not signifi cantly (P>0.05) influence litter size at birth, liv e birth percentage and mean kit birth weight, althoug h the percent survival was slightly higher during the dry season. The percentage survival at birth fo r the first four parities were 4.07±1.63, 4.04±1.29 , 3.96±1.10 and 3.56±1.46, respectively; correspondin g values for gestation length were 31.6±2.7, 31.6±1.8, 31.9±1.6 and 32.2±1.7, respectively. Litt er size at birth and mean kit birth weight for sing le mating were 3.95±1.36 and 38.95±7.87, respectively. Corresponding values for double mating were 3.82±1.45 and 39.14±10.22, respectively. Litter siz e at birth and mean kit birth weight for does with 8, 9 and 10 teats were 4.12 and 41.73 g, 4.11 and 42.3 1 g and 4.48 and 41.01 g, respectively. Second generation kits were born in lower litter size and litter weight, they had lower mean kit weight and l ive birth per litter. Parity, number of mating and doe number of teats had no significant effect (P>0.05) on the investigated bio-economic traits. The present r sults showed that selection of replacement does may not be done with accuracy using external charac teristics like doe number of teats. It may be possible to undertake an all year round breeding in commercial rabbitry under tropical condition. The rainy season however remained the best season that favours farmer productivity, especially under forage based backyard rabbitry.