What are the several kinds of tree leaves commonly used to feed rabbits?
1. Black locust leaves. It belongs to the Fabaceae family, is rich in nutrients, and can be fed fresh, fed dried, or dried and then made into leaf meal for feeding. It is rich in protein and calcium, making it a top-grade feed for domestic rabbits, and it should be collected and used in autumn.
2. Pine needles. Pine needles are abundant in resources, easy to collect, comprehensive in nutrition, and good in quality and low in price; the drawback is that they taste astringent and have poor palatability. When feeding rabbits, young rabbits can be allowed to eat them along with the mother rabbit, 10-20 grams each time, fed fresh as collected, limited to nighttime feeding; if crushed and mixed into other feed, it is best to account for 5%.
3. Cypress leaves. Using cypress leaves as a feed additive for domestic rabbits has the advantages of less feed consumption, lower cost, fewer cases of disease, and faster weight gain. Adding 5-8 grams of cypress leaf powder per rabbit per day can increase the weight gain of young rabbits by 12.3%-19.2% and raise the weight gain of young adult rabbits by 20.5%-30%.
4. Apple leaves and their branches. Apple leaves have a good effect when fed to domestic rabbits, and can be fed as whole leaves or crushed. Domestic rabbits also like to eat apple branches; when feeding, the branches can be broken into small sections and placed in the cage. Rabbits have the ability to peel and gnaw bark, and the bark of each branch can be gnawed very clean. Therefore, the branches pruned from apple trees every year can all be used to feed domestic rabbits.
5. Mulberry leaves and their branches. The feeding method is the same as that for apple leaves and branches. Mulberry leaf veins are the parts left after silkworms have eaten them, and their nutritional value is still very high, so they can be used as feed for domestic rabbits. If the quantity is large, they can be dried in the shade and stored for use as winter feed, and can also be crushed. Mulberry leaves that have undergone frost can not only be used as feed but also as medicine. When feeding mulberry leaves, they can be fed as whole leaves, or dried and crushed and mixed into mixed feed for feeding.
6. False indigo leaves. After collection and drying, they are processed into leaf meal, containing about 20% protein, 0.2% methionine, and 0.79% threonine. Their nutritional value is higher than alfalfa meal, and they are easy to collect and cheap, so they can be used to feed rabbits.