A major problem of large-scale rabbit farming is digestive diseases. Relatively few data on parasitic diseases of industrial rabbit populations are available. The aim of the study was to evaluate the seasonaldependent incidence of Eimeria spp. and Passalurus ambiguus infections at large-scale rabbit farms. The survey was carried out between 2018 and 2022 at 29 Hungarian and 2 Slovakian rabbit farms. Altogether, 7612 faecal samples were examined. Eimeria oocysts and P. ambiguus eggs were detected on all rabbit farms examined, although only a relatively small portion of faecal samples was found positive. Eimeria oocysts and P. ambiguus eggs were found in 32 and 6% of the samples, respectively. Our findings for the seasonal-dependent evaluation of collected data showed that the highest proportion of Eimeria positive samples occurred during the summer (35.3%) and autumn (36.2%) periods. In winter, a significantly lower infection rate was found (29.5 %; P<0.05). The most favourable results were observed in spring (25.1%; P<0.05). As for P. ambiguus, the highest rate of infection was measured in spring (8.4%) and the lowest in summer (4.5%; P<0.01). The autumn and winter periods showed intermediate results (6.7 and 5.5 %, respectively).

The aim was to investigate the effect of dietary crude fibre (CF) content on Eimeria excretion and production in fattening rabbits. Weaned rabbits were divided into two groups: The control group (C) was fed a commercial pelleted diet (CF = 17%); the high-fibre group (HF) was fed a diet with a higher fibre content (CF = 24%). In Experiment 1, the production of 90 rabbits per group was compared and mortality data and faecal samples from 800 rabbits per group were analysed. In Experiment 2, the production of 90 growing rabbits and the faecal samples and mortality of 1050 animals per group were studied. Although feed consumption did not differ between groups, the HF group had lower weight gain than the C group (P < 0.001). The body weight of the HF group was lower at the end of fattening (P < 0.001). The HF group had a very unfavourable feed conversion ratio (4.07). Mortality was not different between the groups. In both groups, Eimeria oocysts were detected in faecal samples from 44-45 days of age until the end of fattening. A higher proportion of moderately pathogenic Eimeria species was detected in the C group compared to the HF group, and highly pathogenic oocysts were observed only in the C group.

The effect of two diets with different fibre contents was examined on rabbit does’ performance and parasitological infection. Diet P2 had 1% higher crude fibre, ADF and starch contents than that of diet P1. The performance of 12–12 does and litters per group were examined during two consecutive inseminations. In both dietary groups, according to a 49-day reproduction rhythm, the does were artificially inseminated 18 days after kindling. Most production traits were not affected by the diets (kindling rate, weight of does and their kits, feed intake, mortality; P>0.05). Significant differences were only found in litter sizes as the number of kits was lower in P1 diet fed group at all examined days of lactation. The significant “Diet x Reproduction cycle” interaction showed that the litter sizes of dietary groups did not differ at the first examined insemination, however at the subsequent reproduction cycle 6–8% lower litter sizes were counted in P1 fed does compared to group P2 (litter size at 4 day: 9.00 vs 9.58–9.92, P = 0.004; litter size at 11 day: 8.83 vs 9.58–9.92, P = 0.037 for diet P1 at the 2nd reproductive cycle compared to all the other cases, respectively). The two diets with different compositions did not affect most of the production results of the rabbit does and their kits, but the lower litter size of does consuming P1 diet at the second examined lactation suggests the adverse effect of P1 diet’s long-term use. From the collected manure samples not any parasites were detected which presents a very favourable picture of farm from the point of view of hygiene and animal health.

A vizsgálat célja a növendéknyulak takarmányozásában az állategészségügyi biztonsági paraméterek megtartása mellett a hizlalási teljesítmény javíthatóságának értékelése volt. Két takarmányt hasonlítottunk össze: egy kereskedelmi forgalomban kapható, magas rosttartalmú biztonsági takarmányt (NSF), valamint egy emelt fehérje-, zsír- és energiatartalmú, ugyanakkor a rostbiztonsági paramétereket megőrző kísérleti takarmányt (PWR). A vizsgálatban Hycole fajtájú növendéknyulak vettek részt 37–64 napos kor között. Mindkét csoportban 1145 nyúl elhullását vizsgálatuk, míg a termelési paramétereket csoportonként 60 egyeden mértük. A vizsgálat során értékeltük a testtömeget, a napi testtömeg-gyarapodást, a takarmányfelvételt, a takarmányértékesítést (FCR), az elhullást, valamint az Eimeria oociszta-ürítést (OPG). A PWR-csoport átlagos napi testtömeg-gyarapodása a teljes hizlalási időszakban szignifikánsan meghaladta az NSF-csoportét (39,8 vs. 37,2 g/nap; P = 0,002). A napi átlagos takarmányfelvételben nem mutatkozott szignifikáns különbség a két csoport között (124,0 vs. 123,1 g/nap; P = 0,412). A takarmányértékesítés az 51–57. nap közötti periódusban szignifikánsan kedvezőbb volt a PWR-csoportban (3,43 vs. 4,04; P < 0,001), és a teljes időszakra vetítve is kedvezőbb tendenciát mutatott (3,27 vs. 3,55; P = 0,098). Az elhullás mindkét csoportban elfogadható tartományon belül alakult (NSF: 3,06%; PWR: 4,19%), a különbség nem volt szignifikáns (P = 0,180). A parazitológiai vizsgálatok során a PWR-csoport minden mérési időpontban alacsonyabb Eimeria oociszta-ürítést mutatott, a két csoport mediánja között közel ötszörös különbség mutatkozott (NSF: 3 813 OPG vs. PWR: 834 OPG), bár a különbség statisztikailag nem volt igazolható (P = 0,222). Eredményeink alapján megállapítható, hogy az emelt fehérje-, zsír- és energiatartalmú, ugyanakkor rostbiztonsági szempontból is megfelelő takarmány szignifikánsan javítja a növendéknyulak hizlalási teljesítményét, miközben nem rontja az állomány egészségi állapotát és parazitológiai státuszát.

The most common disease in growing rabbits is diarrhoea, in the development of which parasites can also play a role in addition to bacteria. Among endoparasites, Eimeria species responsible for coccidiosis are detected in most cases in the digestive system of rabbits. This review collects and discuss the scientific literature on different Eimeria species identified in rabbits, such as their life cycles and pathogeneity or their location in the different parts of the digestive system, and possible alternatives to prevention and treatment.

The diversity of livestock animal breeds is an integral part of global biodiversity and requires careful management for sustainability and future availability. Avoiding inbreeding is a crucial aspect of mating of breeding animals. Our aims were to describe the quality of the pedigree, generation interval, gene origin, inbreeding, and effective population size of Danubia Alba rabbit lines. Line “D” is the maternal, whereas lines “C” and “X” are used as the paternal lines. The pedigree information was followed back from the actual breeding rabbits up to the founder animals. The rabbits having offspring in 2023 were chosen as reference populations for each line. The complete generation equivalent (GenCom) was 17.68 for line “C”, 18.32 for line “D”, and 17.49 for line “X”, respectively. The maximum number of generations (GenMax) was above 30 for each line. The estimated bottleneck effect is mostly the result of selection and not a real genetic loss. The Wright inbreeding coefficient (F_Wright) was the highest for the “X” line rabbits, whereas it was the lowest for the line “D”. Kalinowski’s decomposition of inbreeding showed that it originated mostly from the past; the current fixation of alleles was quite similar for the line “C” and “D”. Based on the predicted effective population sizes, it seems that there is no problem in maintaining of Danubia Alba lines.