A PRELIMINARY ASSESSMENT OF RABBIT FARMING AND ITS SCOPE IN KHYBER PAKHTUNKHWA PROVINCE OF PAKISTAN

The aim of this research was to document the status of rabbit farming in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistan, with reference to breeds, production practices and its acceptability as meat animal. For data collection the Province was divided into three ecological regions; southern, central and northern. Data were collected through questionnaires using method of stratified random sampling. The sample respondents were interviewed through predesigned questionnaires in the local languages to get most reliable information. A total 600 questionnaires were used to collect the data from the three different regions (200 each). The data revealed that based on color, six types of rabbits, namely, black white, white, white bay, black, brown and bay were found in the Province. In southern region highest prevalence was recorded for black white (36.66%), while in central region the highest prevalence was reported for white (39%). In northern region the highest prevalence of 35% was recorded for black white. Mean live weight for the different rabbit types ranged from 1.40±0.01 to 1.66±0.02 Kg in different regions of the province. The highest 1.66±0.02, 1.60±0.02 and 1.56±0.02 Kg mean live weight was recorded for brown, black white and black rabbits, respectively. Highest litter size was reported for white, 5.26±0.15; followed by white bay, 5.18±0.19; and black and white, 5.17±0.19 on overall basis. For annual kindling highest value was reported for black white, 6.72±0.33; for brown 6.93±0.31; and brown was 6.99±0.43 in southern, central and northern region, respectively. Survival rate was higher in adult stage (83.48±0.65%), followed by post weaning (74.99±0.60%) and pre weaning stages (62.39±0.67%). Three types of housing systems were existed, namely, Pakka (concrete; 25%), Kacha (mud; 37%) and rabbit made tunnels without shelter (38%). Rabbits were mostly raised for meat (33.12%), livelihood (33.71%) and as a pet animal (33.18%). Rabbits were generally accepted for meat purposes (40.10%), however, traditional (8.39%) and religious (0.76%) myths about rabbit meat were also found in some community of the Province. Present study concluded that scope of rabbit as meat animal exists in the province and improvement in rabbit management could efficiently improve its production and utilization.