Nutritional Strategies for Rabbit Health and Performance

Optimising rabbit health and productivity hinges on precise dietary formulation that meets physiological requirements while supporting digestive, immune and reproductive functions. Core strategies include balancing protein quality and amino acid profiles to match growth and lactation demands, adjusting fibre fractions to promote gut motility and reduce enteric disorders, and incorporating functional ingredients—such as n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, prebiotic fibres and alternative protein sources—to enhance meat quality and resilience to stress. Emerging approaches employ metabolomic profiling to refine the concept of “ideal protein” and reduce nitrogen excretion, while novel feedstuffs—ranging from agro-industrial by-products to insect meals and plant gums—offer cost-effective and sustainable options. An integrated view considers interactions among nutrients, the gut microbiota and host physiology to achieve environmental and economic sustainability in both commercial and small-scale production systems.

Research from Nature Portfolio

Recent studies have applied metabolomic analyses to elucidate biomarkers that reflect amino acid imbalances in growing rabbits subjected to rapid dietary shifts. By varying levels of lysine and other limiting amino acids, investigators identified changes in circulating creatinine, urea, hydroxypropionic acid and oxidised fatty acids that cannot be ascribed to single amino acids. These metabolites collectively characterise the metabolic phenotype under suboptimal or excess amino acid intake, offering targets for refining the ideal protein concept and enabling more precise dietary adjustments to support growth performance while minimising nitrogen losses.

Nutritional Strategies for Rabbit Health and Performance publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in nutritional strategies for rabbit health and performance across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Ideal protein concept: The dietary profile of amino acids that exactly meets an animal’s requirement, minimising excess nitrogen excretion.

Metabolomics: The comprehensive analysis of small-molecule metabolites in biological samples to characterise physiological and nutritional states.

Biomarker: A measurable indicator of a biological or nutritional status, used to guide diet formulation and assess animal health.

Prebiotic: A non-digestible feed component that selectively stimulates beneficial gut microbiota, improving host digestive health.

Feed conversion ratio: A measure of the efficiency with which animals convert feed mass into body mass, expressed as feed consumed per unit weight gain.

References

1. Biomarkers for ideal protein: rabbit diet metabolomics varying key amino acids. Communications Biology (2024).
2. Development of Rabbit Meat Products Fortified With n-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids. Nutrients (2009).
3. Plasmatic Urea Nitrogen in Growing Rabbits with Different Combinations of Dietary Levels of Lysine, Sulphur Amino Acids and Threonine. Animals (2020).
4. Growth performance and meat composition of rabbits fed diets supplemented with silkworm pupae meal. Spanish Journal of Agricultural Research (2019).
5. Characterisation and In Vitro Evaluation of Fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum) Seed Gum as a Potential Prebiotic in Growing Rabbit Nutrition. Animals (2020).
6. Effects of incorporating agro-industrial by-products into diet of New Zealand rabbits: Case of rebus of date and apricot kernel meal. Veterinary World (2017).