The Importance of Fibres to Manage fattening rabbits' Digestive Issues

Benefits of fibres on the young rabbit

There are two main categories of fibre, both of which have benefits for the health and performance of rabbits:

• indigestible fibres (which include crude fibre and lignin);
• digestible fibres (which include hemicellulose and pectin).

Indigestible fibres (cellulose and lignin) are poorly digested by rabbits. By reducing the residence time of food in the digestive tract, their presence will influence transit time, particularly in the cecum. This improvement in intestinal motility prevents the proliferation of potentially pathogenic bacteria and the accumulation of fermentation products and gases. This leads to an improvement in health status (mortality and morbidity), particularly diarrhoeal symptoms.

Digestible fibres (hemicellulose and pectin) are well digested by rabbits. As a substrate for microbial flora, they lead to the production of volatile fatty acids (VFA). The greater the volume of digestible fibre ingested, the greater the concentration of VFAs in the cecum, leading to a drop in pH. In addition, VFAs represent a reassuring source of energy for rabbits, helping to reduce mortality due to paresis (reduced or even halted intestinal transit).

Striking a balance between digestible fibres and indigestible fibres

Provided in the right quantities, fibre is beneficial to the health status of fattening rabbits. However, it is important to provide an optimum balance of digestible and indigestible fibre in the feed, as demonstrated by a meta-analysis presented by Techna at the Journées de la Recherche Cunicole in 2019.

What's more, rabbits appreciate a diversified fibre intake: our studies have shown that, for an equivalent amount of fibre in the feed, adding different fibre raw materials to the feed is better than using a single source of fibre to significantly reduce mortality.