Characterization of Saudi native rabbit breeds: utilization, development and productive performance – a review
Submitted: 2025-06-13
|Accepted: 2025-12-16
|Published: 2026-03-31
Copyright (c) 2026 Moataz Fathi, Magdy Abdelsalam, Ibrahim Al-Homidan, Gamal Rayan, Mohamed Elzarei, Osama Abou-Emera (Author)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Downloads
Keywords:
jabali rabbits, morphological appearance, Saudi native rabbits
Supporting agencies:
Deanship of Scientific Research, Vice Presidency for Graduate Studies and Scientific Research, King Faisal University, Saudi Arabia [Grant No. KFU254573]
Abstract:
Commercial rabbit farming is considered a good business, with low investments and high outcomes in many countries. In general, rabbits are raised either to produce a delicious white meat or to utilize their fur in various manufacturing processes. However, rabbits are unable to sweat, as they do not have sweat glands. To regulate their body temperature, they use their ears and panting behaviour. Unfortunately, rabbit production deteriorates when the weather is hot. Breeders in many developing countries, especially those suffering from heat stress, are using crossbreeding between rabbit breeds and lines to produce genetic combinations (crossbreds) considering the advantage of heterosis. In 2005, a national project was funded by Abdel Aziz city for science and technology at Qassim University aimed at producing improved synthetic rabbit lines to distribute to stakeholders. A genetic improvement programme was adopted to synthesize new lines of rabbits adapted to heat stress resulting from crossing between Saudi breed (Jabali) and a Spanish line (V-line). Numerous studies conducted on different rabbit populations raised in hot weather have proved that the V-line and their crossbreds have formerly performed well compared to the Saudi native breed, but they lost this advantage of adaptation over time.
References:
Abdel-Hamid T.M., Dawod A. 2020. Breed effects on growth performance, blood parameters and the levels of metabolic hormones in rabbits under heat stress in Egypt. Zagazig Vet. J., 48: 284-295. https://doi.org/10.21608/zvjz.2020.28446.1107
Abdelsalam M., Al-Homidan I., Ebeid T., Abou-Emera O., Mostafa M., Abd El-Razik M., Shehab-El-Deen M., Abdel Ghani S., Fathi M. 2019. Effect of silver nanoparticle administration on productive performance, blood parameters, antioxidative status, and silver residues in growing rabbits under hot climate. Animals, 9: 845. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani9100845
Abdel-Samee A., Tantawy H.M., Rashed R.M. 2014. Heat Adaptability of Growing New Zealand White rabbits under Egyptian Conditions. Zagazig Vet. J., 42: 140-151. https://doi.org/10.21608/zvjz.2014.59479
Al-Dobaib S.N. 2010. Effect of diets on growth, digestibility, carcass and meat quality characteristics of four rabbit breeds. Saudi. J. Biol. Sci., 17: 83-93. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sjbs.2009.12.012
Al-Dobaib S.N., Khalil M.H., Hashad M., Al-Saef A.M. 2007. Growth, carcass and caecal traits in V-line and crossbred rabbits fed diets containing discarded dates. World Rabbit Sci., 15: 81-90. https://doi.org/10.4995/wrs.2007.603
Al-Homidan I., Fathi M., Abdelsalam M., Ebeid T., Abou-Emera O., Mohamed Mostafa M., Abd El-Razik M., Shehab-El-Deen M. 2022. Effect of propolis supplementation and breed on growth performance, immunity, blood parameters and cecal microbiota in growing rabbits. Anim. Biosci., 35: 1606-1615. https://doi.org/10.5713/ab.21.0535
Al-Saef A., Khalil M., Al-Homidan A., Al-Dobaib S., Al-Sobayil K. 2007. Carcass, lean composition and meat quality traits in new Saudi synthetic lines of rabbits developed to be adaptable to hot climates, In Proc.: 3rd International Conference of quantitative genetics, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China, August, 12-19.
Al-Saef A.M., Khalil M.H., Al-Homidan A.H., Al-Dobaib S.N., Al-Sobayil K.A., García M.L., Baselga M. 2008. Crossbreeding effects for litter and lactation traits in a Saudi project to develop new lines of rabbits suitable for hot climates. Livest. Sci., 118: 238-246. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.livsci.2008.01.025
Al-Shami S.A., Mohammed T.A. 2009. Effect of replacement of parley grains by wasted bread crumbs or rejected dates on growth performance and carcass traits of growing rabbits. Pak. J. Nutr., 8: 635-641. https://doi.org/10.3923/pjn.2009.635.641
Alhaidary A., Mohamed H., Beynen A. 2010. Impact of dietary fat type and amount on growth performance and serum cholesterol in rabbits. Am. J. Anim. Vet. Sci., 5: 60-64. https://doi.org/10.3844/ajavsp.2010.60.64
Aljohani N.E., Abduljawad S.H. 2018. Efficacy of Moringa oleifera leaf supplementation for enhanced growth performance, haematology and serum biochemistry of rabbits. Food Nutr. Sci., 9: 1285-1298. https://doi.org/10.4236/fns.2018.911092
Ashour G., El-Bahrawy K.A., Abdel-Rahman S. 2025. Genetic resources and optimal utilization of rabbits in Egypt. Egypt. J. Rabbit Sci., 35: 1-32. https://doi.org/10.21608/ejrs.2025.399452
El-Raffa A.M., Youssef Y.K., Iraqi M.M., Khalil M.H., García M.L., Baselga M. 2005. Developing rabbit lines for meat production in Egypt and Saudi Arabia: overview, synthesizing plan, descriptive performance and future prospects. In Proc.: 4th International Conference on rabbit production in hot climates. Genetics section N4. Sharm El-Sheik, Egypt, 24-27 February. ERSA, 47-53.
El-Tarabany M.S., El-Bayoumi K.M. 2010. Effects on some immunological traits after crossing three rabbit breeds in Egypt. Vet. Ital., 46: 345-51.
FAOSTAT 2010. Statistical database of the food and agriculture Organization of the United Nations. FAO, Rome.
Farghly M.F., Mahrose K.M., Mahmoud G.B., Ali R.M., Daghash W., Metwally K.A., Abougabal M.S. 2020. Lighting programs as an appliance to improve growing New Zealand white rabbit’s performance. Int. J. Biometeorol., 64: 1295-1303. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00484-020-01906-z
Fathi M., Abdelsalam M., Al-Homidan I., Abou-Emera O., Rayan G. 2023. Effect of genotype of growing rabbits on productive performance with special reference to residual feed intake at hot temperature. Anim. Biosci., 36: 1067-1074. https://doi.org/10.5713/ab.22.0355
Fathi M., Abdelsalam M., Al‐Homidan I., Ebeid T., El‐Zarei M., Abou‐Emera O. 2017. Effect of probiotic supplementation and genotype on growth performance, carcass traits, hematological parameters and immunity of growing rabbits under hot environmental conditions. Anim. Sci. J., 88: 1644-1650. https://doi.org/10.1111/asj.12811
Fathi M.M., Abdelsalam M., Al-Homidan I., Ebeid T., Shehab-El-Deen M., Abd El-Razik M., Abou-Emera O., Mostafa M. 2019. Supplemental effects of eucalyptus (Eucalyptus camaldulensis) leaves on growth performance, carcass characteristics, blood biochemistry and immune response of growing rabbits. Ann. Anim. Sci., 19: 779. https://doi.org/10.2478/aoas-2019-0023.
Ghosh N., Mandal L. 2008. Carcass and meat quality traits of rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) under warm-humid condition of West Bengal, India. Livest. Res. Rural. Dev., 20: 7.
Hermes I.H., Ahmed B.M., Khalil M.H., Salah M.S., Al-Homidan A.A. 1999. Growth performance, nutrients utilization and carcass traits of growing Californian rabbits raised under different ambient temperatures. Egypt. J. Rabbit Sci., 9: 117-138.
Khalil M.H., Al-Sobayil K., Hermes I.H., Al-Homidan A.H. 2002. Crossbreeding effects for post-weaning growth, rectal and ear temperatures and respiration rates in crossing Saudi Gabali with Spanish V-Line rabbits. In Proc.: 7th World Congress on Genetics Applied to Livestock Production, 2002 August, Montpellier, France, 4-12.
Khalil M.H., Al-Sobayil K.A., Al-Saef A.M., García M.L., Baselga M. 2007. Genetic evaluation for semen characteristics in a crossbreeding project involving Saudi and Spanish V-line rabbits. Animal, 1: 923-928. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1751731107000341
Liang Z., Chen F., Park S., Balasubramanian B., Liu W. 2022. Impacts of heat Stress on rabbit immune function, endocrine, blood biochemical changes, antioxidant capacity and production performance, and the potential mitigation strategies of nutritional intervention. Front. Vet. Sci., 9: 906084. https://doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2022.906084
Liu G., Liu C., Sun H., Bai L., Yang L., Zhang Y., Gao S. 2025. Effects of heat stress on production performance and protein metabolism of skeletal muscle in meat rabbits. Animals, 15:2560. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani15172560
Lukefahr S.D., Ozimba C.E. 1991. Prediction of carcass merit from live body measurements in rabbits of four breed-types. Livest. Prod. Sci., 29: 323-334. https://doi.org/10.1016/0301-6226(91)90107-2
Lukefahr S., Hohenboken W.D., Cheeke P.R., Patton N.M., Kennick W.H. 1982. Carcass and meat characteristics of Flemish Giant and New Zealand White purebred and terminal-cross rabbits. J. Anim. Sci., 54: 1169-1174. https://doi.org/10.2527/jas1982.5461169x
Lukefahr S., Hohenboken W.D., Cheeke P.R., Patton N.M. 1983. Characterization of straightbred and crossbred rabbits for milk production and associative traits. J. Anim. Sci., 57: 1100-1107. https://doi.org/10.2527/jas1983.5751100x
Marai I.F.M., Rashwan A.A. 2004. Rabbits’ behavioural response to climatic and managerial conditions - a review. Arch. Anim. Breed., 47: 469-482. https://doi.org/10.5194/aab-47-469-2004
Marai I.F.M., Ayyat M.S., Abd El-Monem U.M. 2001. Growth performance and reproductive traits at first parity of New Zealand White female rabbits as affected by heat stress and its alleviation under Egyptian conditions. Trop. Anim. Health Prod., 33: 451-462. https://doi.org/10.1023/a:1012772311177
Marai I.F.M., Habeeb A.A.M., Gad A.E. 2002. Rabbits’ productive, reproductive and physiological performance traits as affected by heat stress: a review. Livest. Prod. Sci., 78: 71-90. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0301-6226(02)00091-X
Marco-Jiménez F., García-Diego F.J., Vicente-Antón J.S. 2017. Effect of gestational and lactational exposure to heat stress on performance in rabbits. World Rabbit Sci., 25: 17-25. https://doi.org/10.4995/wrs.2017.5728
Matics Z., Gerencsér Z., Kasza R., Terhes K., Nagy I., Radnai I., Zotte A.D., Cullere M., Szendrő Z. 2021. Effect of ambient temperature on the productive and carcass traits of growing rabbits divergently selected for body fat content. Animal, 15: 100096. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.animal.2020.100096
McNitt J.I., Lukefahr S.D. 1993. Breed and environmental effects on postweaning growth of rabbits. J. Anim. Sci., 71: 1996-2005. https://doi.org/10.2527/1993.7181996x
Metzger S., Odermatt M., Szendrõ Z., Mohaupt M., Romvári R., Makai A., Biró-Németh E., Sipos L., Radnai I., Horn P.A. 2006. Study of the carcass traits of different rabbit genotypes. World Rabbit Sci., 14: 107-114. https://doi.org/10.4995/wrs.2006.550
Ministry of Environment, water and Agriculture 2020. https://data.gov.sa/data/en/estimate-the-number-of-livestock-in-thekingdom-for-the-year-2020.
Nagadi S.A. 2019. Replace the sprout barley instead of the concentrated fodder including anaerobic probiotic ZAD® for growing rabbits. Int. J. Eng. Res. Tech., 10: 105-114. https://doi.org/10.17577/IJERTV8IS100058
Okab A.B., El-Banna S.G. 2003. Physiological and biochemical parameters in New-Zealand white male rabbits during spring and summer seasons. Egypt. J. Basic Appl. Physiol., 2: 289-300.
Oladimeji A.M., Johnson T.G., Metwally K., Farghly M., Mahrose K.M. 2022. Environmental heat stress in rabbits: implications and ameliorations. Int. J. Biometeorol., 66: 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00484-021-02191-0
Ondruska L., Rafay J., Okab A.B., Ayoub M.A., Al-Haidary A.A., Samara E.M., Supuka P. 2011. Influence of elevated ambient temperature upon some physiological measurements of New Zealand White rabbits. Veterinární Medicína, 56: 180-186. https://doi.org/10.17221/3150-VETMED
Paci G., Cecchi F., Preziuso G., Ciampolini R., D’Agata M. 2012. Carcass traits and meat quality of two different rabbit genotypes. Italian J. Anim. Sci., 11: e45,. https://doi.org/10.4081/ijas.2012.e45
Thwaites C.J., Baillie N.B., Kasa W. 1990. Effects of dehydration on the heat tolerance of male and female New Zealand White rabbits. J. Agri. Sci., 115: 437-440. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0021859600075894
Wang J., Su Y., Elzo M.A., Jia X., Chen S., Lai S. 2016. Comparison of carcass and meat quality traits among three rabbit breeds. Korean J. Food Sci. Anim. Resour., 36: 84-89. https://doi.org/10.5851/kosfa.2016.36.1.84
Youssef Y.K., Iraqi M.M., El-Raffa A.M., Afifi E.A., Khalil M.H., García M.L., Baselga M. 2008. A joint project to synthesize new lines of rabbits in Egypt and Saudi Arabia: emphasis for results and prospects. In Proc.: 9th World Rabbit Congress, June 10-13, 2008, Verona, Italy.
