Previous studies that have investig

Previous studies that have investigated the influence of feeding on rabbit gut mucosa conditions are limited and non conclusive: some authors have not observed the effects of an increase of dietary starch and starch to ADF ratio on gut morphology of young rabbits (Gutiérrez et al., 2002), while others have found villi height to be linearly reduced at the ileum (Carraro et al., 2007) or, on the contrary, increased at the jejunum (Álvarez et al., 2007). Increasing the efficiency of the intestinal barrier is considered beneficial to prevent and provide a better reaction to the attack of pathogenic microflora and to impair the passage of toxins produced in the intestine (Van Dijk et al., 2002).