LAUSR

Abstract Two experiments were carried out to determine the nutritional value of passion fruit seed (PFS) and the effects of dietary supply of this feedstuff on performance, carcass traits, meat quality, biochemical parameters, and economic viability of growing rabbits. In the digestibility experiment, 24 rabbits (12 males and 12 females) were allocated between 2 treatments (reference diet and test diet, composed by 70 % reference diet and 30 % PFS). The PFS contained 119.3 g/kg crude protein (CP), 218.2 g/kg ether extract (EE), 656.6 g/kg neutral detergent fibre (aNDFom), 625.5 g/kg acid detergent fibre (ADFom) and 9.4 MJ DE/kg dry matter. In the performance experiment, 100 rabbits (50 males and 50 females) were allocated in a 5 × 2 factorial design study, with five inclusion levels of PFS (0, 40, 80, 120 and 160 g/kg) and 2 genders. PFS promoted a linear increase on the activity and potential antioxidant of blood, meat color, and DM, CP and EE digestibility (P