ArticlePloS one2018
Effects of the particle of ground alfalfa hay on the growth performance, methane production and archaeal populations of rabbits.
Article in PloS one, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.
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Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed, 13 citations in OpenAlex.
- Potential of Natural Feed Additives in Reducing Gaseous Emissions and Environmental Footprint in Rabbit Housing Systems.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2026Article
- Multi-kingdom fecal microbiome and virus-host interactions associated with growth performance of indigenous beef calves in Guizhou.BMC microbiology · 2026Article
- Impact of crumbled pelleted starter feed and alfalfa inclusion on feed intake, growth, and rumen microbiota in young lambs.Animal bioscience · 2025Article
- Effects of supplementing sow diets during late gestation with Pennisetum purpureum on antioxidant indices, immune parameters and faecal microbiota.Veterinary medicine and science · 2021Article
- Effects of particle size of ground alfalfa hay on caecal bacteria and archaea populations of rabbits.PeerJ · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
12 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The world's annual output of rabbits is over 1.2 billion, therefore this sector is also one of the sources of greenhouse gases in livestock production. One hundred-twenty New Zealand rabbits were allocated into four treatments, five replicates in each treatment and six rabbits in each replicate to examine the effect of grinding alfalfa hay to different sizes on growth performance, methane production and cecal archaeal populations. The particle sizes of the alfalfa meal in the four treatment diets were 2500, 1000, 100 and 10 μm, while the other ingredients were ground through a 2.5 mm sieve. The average daily gain (ADG) and average daily feed intake (ADFI) increased (P<0.001) as the particle size decreased, but the feed conversion ratio (FCR) was not affected (P = 0.305). The digestibility of neutral detergent fiber (NDF) (P = 0.006) and acid detergent fiber (ADF) (P<0.006) increased while the greatest digestibility of crude protein (CP) was obtained in 1000 um group (P = 0.015). The rabbits produced more methane (CH4, L/kgBM0.75/d) with decreasing alfalfa particle size (P<0.001). The molar proportion of acetic acid and propionic acid decreased (P<0.001) at the cost of butyric acid (P<0.001). The greatest villus height:crypt depth ratio were obtained in 1000 μm group, and the decrease in the alfalfa hay particle size decreased the jejunum and ilem villus height:crypt depth ratio (P<0.05). The gastric muscular and mucosal thickness decreased with decreasing alfalfa particle size (P<0.05). Archaea diversity decreased with decreasing alfalfa particle size, and the relative abundance of genus Methanobrevibacter increased (P<0.001) while the genus Methanosphaera decreased (P<0.001). It is concluded that a finer particle size favors the growth of genus Methanobrevibacter, which produces more methane but promotes the growth performance of rabbits.
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