Effect of bergamot (Citrus bergamia Risso) by-product on growth performance and meat quality of growing rabbits

This study aimed to investigate the effects of feeding dried bergamot pulp to rabbits on animal per-formance and meat quality. Thirty rabbits were assigned to two groups (balanced for bodyweight, 804.4 ± 2.35 g) and fed individually for 60 days a basal diet (control) or the basal diet in which part of the cereals was replaced with 10 % of dried bergamot pulp (DBP). There was no effect of DBP on growth perfor-mance, carcass yield, nor crude protein and ether extract composition of meat. The concentration in the longissimus thoracis et lumborum muscle of α-linolenic acid (C18:3 n-3) and eicosapentaenoic acid (C20:5 n-3) increased (P < 0.01 and P = 0.021 respectively) by integrating dried bergamot pulp into the diet, leading to a higher level of the total of ω-3 fatty acids (P < 0.01) compared to the control treatment. The inclusion of dried bergamot pulp improves the oxidative stability in meat (P < 0.001), where TBARS values were lower after 4 and 7 days of refrigerated storage (P<0.001) in the DBP group than in the control group. Finally, feeding dried bergamot pulp to rabbits improves meat quality without negatively in-fluencing growth performance.