2.2. Animals
The experimental procedure followed both the Spanish RoyalDecree
1201/2005 on protection of animals used for scientific purposes (Boletín
Oficial del Estado, 2005) and the recommendations for applied nutrition
research in rabbits described by the European Group on Rabbit Nutrition
(Fernández-Carmona et al., 2005), as approved by the Committee
of Ethics and AnimalWelfare of the Universidad Politécnica de Valencia.
A total of 475 weaned rabbits 28 days old of both sexes from a three
way cross were used in the experiment. Animals were reared in 5
rounds. Rabbits were allocated to individual cages and fed until
59 days old with one of the 5 experimental diets. Diets were medicated
from 28 to 49 days of age and unmedicated from 49 to 59 days. Daily
feed intake in the whole period is available at Alagón et al. (2014),
which was used to determine ether extract (EE) and fatty acid intake
of the animals.