STUDY ON THE DIFFERENT FACTORS AFFECTING MORTALITY PATTERN OF RABBIT IN INDIA

Around 374 data on different mortality cases recorded from New Zealand White and Soviet Chinchilla breed of rabbit in three seasons i e summer, rainy and winter over a period of four years in Rabbit Research Farm of the institute under Animal Production Division were analyzed statistically. Rabbits were housed in indoor cage system and 50 % mash feeding and 50 % roughage feeding was practiced. It was found that highest mortality was in I st generation crops. Breed wise higher mortality was observed in New Zealand White breed of rabbit (22.12%). Sex wise higher mortality was in female (20.48 %). Age wise mortality revealed that highest mortality was in finisher (21.49 %). Season wise highest mortality was in summer (17.90 %). Etiology of disease indicated that highest mortality was due to coccidiosis (5.62 %) followed by deficiency disorder (5.50 %). In 1 st and 2 nd year there was significant differences (P < 0.05) in mortality among grower, finisher and adult rabbits. There were also significant (P < 0.05) differences in mortality between different seasons in 1 st year. There was significant difference of mortality between the generations in 1 st year. In 2 nd year breed difference was observed to be significant.