Apparent digestibility of mixed feed with increasing levels of chia (Salvia hispanica L.) seeds in rabbit diets.

Thirty crossbred rabbits were randomly allocated to three groups with ten animals each (five male and five female rabbits each), and kept individually in separate cages. Three isocaloric and isonitrogenous diets were formulated with increasing levels of chia (Salvia hispanica L.) seeds (SHS) (0, 10, and 15%). The digestibility coefficients of the dry matter (DM), organic matter (OM), crude protein (CP), crude fibre (CF), ether extract (EE), nitrogen free extract (NFE), neutral detergent fibre (NDF), acid detergent fibre (ADF) and gross energy (GE) were calculated according to standard procedures following the indirect digestibility method, using acid insoluble ash as an internal marker. The results showed that the addition of SHS improved the digestibility of the both SHS diets for DM, OM, NFE and GE, while the EE and ADF digestibilities of the 10% SHS diet were higher than those of the other diets.