<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>The purpose of this article is to overview the history of feeding rabbits with different types of animal fats, and to discuss their effects on rabbit performance and quality of their products. Other aspects of the inclusion of various animal fats in rabbit diets are also described. This article is based on the analysis of relevant scientific literature and presents animal fats fed to rabbits, such as beef tallow, butter, pork lard, poultry fat, fish oil, krill oil, oil extracted from insect larvae, mixtures of various animal fats, and mixtures of animal and vegetable fats. The reported papers describe the effect of fats on growth performance, lactation, rearing performance, meat quality, and health status of rabbits. It is notable that in many cases, various animal fats were often an integral part of numerous diets or were included in control diets. The presented information demonstrates that animal fat can be fed to rabbits at 2–4% of the diet without negative effects on reproductive performance, growth performance and quality of meat obtained. Rabbits were used as model animals in many studies in which fat was added to balance the diets and to increase their energy value, especially when investigating various cardiovascular and obesity-related diseases.</p></abstract>

The purpose of this article is to overview the history of feeding rabbits with different types of animal fats, and to discuss their effects on rabbit performance and quality of their products. Other aspects of the inclusion of various animal fats in rabbit diets are also described. This article is based on the analysis of relevant scientific literature and presents animal fats fed to rabbits, such as beef tallow, butter, pork lard, poultry fat, fish oil, krill oil, oil extracted from insect larvae, mixtures of various animal fats, and mixtures of animal and vegetable fats. The reported papers describe the effect of fats on growth performance, lactation, rearing performance, meat quality, and health status of rabbits. It is notable that in many cases, various animal fats were often an integral part of numerous diets or were included in control diets. The presented information demonstrates that animal fat can be fed to rabbits at 2–4% of the diet without negative effects on reproductive performance, growth performance and quality of meat obtained. Rabbits were used as model animals in many studies in which fat was added to balance the diets and to increase their energy value, especially when investigating various cardiovascular and obesity-related diseases.

Animal Fats in Rabbit Feeding – A Review

Department of Fur-bearing Animal Breeding and Game Management, Faculty of Animal Bioengineering

Annals of Animal Science

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

{"article-title":"Animal Fats in Rabbit Feeding \u2013 A Review"}

The purpose of this article is to overview the history of feeding rabbits with different types of animal fats, and to discuss their effects on rabbit...

Animal Fats in Rabbit Feeding – A Review

Published Online: Nov 07, 2020

Page range: 1185 - 1215

Received: Apr 24, 2020

Accepted: Sep 02, 2020

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/aoas-2020-0091

Keywords
rabbits, feeding/nutrition, mammalian fat, poultry fat, fish oil, insect fat

© 2020 Andrzej Gugołek et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Animal Fats in Rabbit Feeding – A Review

Published Online: Nov 07, 2020

Page range: 1185 - 1215

Received: Apr 24, 2020

Accepted: Sep 02, 2020

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/aoas-2020-0091

Keywordsrabbits, feeding/nutrition, mammalian fat, poultry fat, fish oil, insect fat

© 2020 Andrzej Gugołek et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Keywords
rabbits, feeding/nutrition, mammalian fat, poultry fat, fish oil, insect fat