6. Rabbit Management 
Vo 1. 13, No. 9 
Page 3 
G. 8. Rose 
Bailey (1 S)60, Job Completion Rept., INHS) suggested that the capacity of 
cottontails to digest starches may change as the rabbits mature. If it is true 
that the efficiency of starch digestion improves as the animals develop, and 
if the digestion of the other components of the diet does not become less 
efficient in the meantime, then the assimilation efficiency shown by cotton¬ 
tails maintained on a diet of the same food should increase as the rabbits 
mature. 
Assimilation efficiencies of 19 cottontails being fed a diet of commercial 
rabbit chow were calculated for rabbits ranging in size from 337 grams (about 
6 weeks old) to 1,160 grams (adults). There was no significant correlation 
between body weight and assimilation efficiency (R = +0.192). 
Therefore, the failure of the assimilation efficiencies to increase 
provides no evidence of increasing efficiency of starch digestion with 
maturation in cottontails, 6 weeks of age and older. It remains possible, 
however, that cottontails younger than 6 weeks may show a change in efficiency 
of starch digestion. 
