Technical note: Preliminary results with a tannin extract on the performance and mortality of growing rabbits in an enteropathy infected environment.

In 3 preliminary trials, the effect of a dietary addition with 0.5% of a chestnut tannin extract, containing approximately 55% hydrolysable tannins, was examined on mortality after weaning. The tannin-enriched diet was fed to the does and their litters from 22 days of lactation. After weaning (day 29), young rabbits did not change dietary treatment and remained on the control diet or the tannin-enriched diet, respectively. In total 1217 rabbits were considered, about half of whom were fed the tannin-enriched diet. Mortality reached 17.1% and 7.7% (trial 1, P=0.054), 17.2 and 18.2% (trail 2, NS) and 29.0% and 9.9% (trial 3, P