Technical note: year, season and parity effect on weaning performance of the carmagnola grey rabbit breed

To evaluate the main environmental factors in the productivity of Carmagnola Grey rabbits -an endangered breed indigenous to northern Italy- data collected from a total of 1486 litters over 8 yr were analysed. Production data on the pure closed nucleus herd of the University of Turin were used. Effects of parity, season and age of weaning on the number of rabbits born alive and weaned, litter weight and individual average weight at weaning were studied. The following average performance rates over the 8 yr period were determined: 8.1 live born and 7.2 weaned kits per litter and a litter weight at weaning (on average of 35 d) of 7287 g or 1024 g individual weaning weight. Year and season both had a significant effect (P<0.001) on all the traits studied as well as weaning age (P<0.001 ). To summarise, all productive traits showed an improvement in the last two-three years of the trial, in does after the first delivery, and at the higher kid weaning age (6 week), while shown a decreasing in summer. The performances of the Carmagnola Grey rabbit are encouraging, even if not comparable to hybrid strains.