3rd Scientific Conference on Rabbit Production in Hot Climates

8-11 Oct., 2002, Hurghada, Egypt

Organized by: Egyptian Rabbit Science Association (ERSA)

Foreword - Greeting

It is of great pleasure to welcome rabbit Scientists from Algeria, Hungary, Saudi Arabia, Spain and Egypt. We appreciate very much your interest to participate in the 3rd Scientific Conference on Rabbit Production in Hot Climates organized by ERSA. The first conference was held in Cairo in 1992, while the 2nd was held in 1994.

Why this and other conferences on rabbits are held all over the World? By the year 2010, the world population will have risen to more than 7 billion, moving to 9 billion by 2025. This increase will be felt mainly in the developing countries. Consequently, there will be greater and greater necessity to answer to the increasing demands for food. There is greater and greater recognition that rabbit farming has significant potential to improve food security and nutrition in developing countries. Rabbits are highly productive in terms of offspring (kg/ year/ dam). They can be a very lucrative operation for both landed and landless small farmers, providing work for women, children, aged or handicapped people. The rabbit project can offer a solution for thousands of university graduates who are looking for jobs. This is why rabbit conferences are held from time to time. Global rabbit production is currently estimated at 1.5 million metric tonnes per year according to FAO 1997. Five countries are leading the world in rabbit production, which are: Italy (300,000 t), former USSR (250,000), France (150,000), China (120,000) and Spain (100,000 tonnes). There are 10 countries which produce from 20,000 to 99,000 t like Belgium, Germany, Hungary, Indonesia, Morocco, Nigeria, Poland and USA. There are 20 countries in the world produce 5,000 to 19,000 t like Algeria, Brazil, Denmark, Egypt, India, Romania, United kingdom and others, while the rest of the world countries produce less than 4,900 tons. Italy leads the world in rabbit consumption at 5.8 Kg per capita annually, far ahead of the world's leading producer, China, where consumption is just 0.07 Kg per person per year; Chinese rabbit production is primarily for Angora wool rather than for food.

The situation of rabbit production in Egypt:

The number of rabbits available in Egypt is not quite clear, the most common rabbit production breeds in Egypt are NZW, California, and others. In addition to these exotic breeds, local rabbit breeds Giza white, Baladi red, Baladi black, Gabali and others are found. These local showed, in general, lower performance than exotic standard breeds. Cross breeding of exotic breeds with local breeds was carried out since 1971 by several investigators and good results have been obtained. No accurate data are found about rabbit meat production and consumption in Egypt. While some reports say that the annual meat production is about 15,000 tonnes carcass weight, it reaches about 69,000 t in other reports. The estimated annual consumption of rabbit meat in kg per inhabitant in Egypt is 0.27 kg, while it is 0.7 kg in other reports. FAO reports emphasized that if the high rate of growth in meat consumption in future years was to be met, much of the increase in production would have to come from short cycle animals kept by the small scale farmers such as rabbits. Although there is an increasing interest in establishing rabbit projects with different sizes here and there in Egypt by the private sector several difficulties and constraints stand against the successfulness of most of these projects.

These constraints are represented in:
Difficulties to find good quality animal stock.
High environmental temperature in summer season (three months of the year). High costs of manufactured pelleted diets. Most feed companies do not offer special feeds of higher nutritive value in hot season.
Lack of theoretical and practical knowledge and training for most breeders.
Lack of appropriate strategies for disease prevention.
Above all, the absence of an integrated national program to develop rabbit production that may deal with an integrated plan for research and manage all aspects of rabbit production systems. In this respect a related separate round table session will be undertaken in this conference.

- Prof. Dr. Ahmed.H.Daader, Conference Chairman

Table of Contents

General Articles

Breeding and Genetics

Physiology and Reproduction

Management and Health

Nutrition and Feeding

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