Interest of a fasting period to improve growth performances of fattening rabbits.The aim was to study if the beneficial effect of feed restriction is due to the decrease in feed intake or to the fact that restricted rabbits have a fasting period during the day.Four groups of 120 rabbits are allotted at weaning.J0 and J10 groups had free access to feed during 24 or 14 hours per day in order to force rabbits from group J10 to have a 10 hours fasting period.1R80 and 4R80 groups were feed restricted(80% of ad libitum)with the same quantity but they were fed at once in group 1R80 or in 4 times in 4R80 group in order to prevent rabbit from a long fasting period for this last group.Group J10 has a similar feed intake as group J0 but has a better average daily gain(ADG)and feed conversion ratio FCR(+1.2g/d and-0.10 respectively,P<0.05)during fattening.Group 1R80 had a better FCR than J0 and J10 groups(-0.29 and-0.19 respectively,P<0.05).Group 4R80 has a more important mortality rate(P<0.05)and a smaller ADG than the three other groups(from-1.2 to-7.2g/d,P<0.05).As a conclusion,the gain in feed efficiency of restricted rabbits is due to both the presence of a fasting period and also to the decrease in feed intake.