The application possibilities of certain parametric and nonparametric methods concerning survival analysis were investigated on 18 Pannon White rabbits of a physiological trial. The running rejection behaviour was used as an accurate model trait for the above mentioned analysis. Rabbits had to run on a motor-driven treadmill until exhaustion twice every day. The duration of the experiment was set to be 24 days and the rabbits were arbitrarily sorted into two groups (above and below the median of the end weight of the experiment) labeled as large and small, respectively. The pattern of the results was very similar regardless of the applied method (Kaplan Meier survival curves, Cox PH model, Weibull distribution). Higher inclination towards the running rejection with the increasing weight of the rabbits seemed to be undeniable. Yet probably due to the small sample size it was impossible to obtain significant differences between the groups. Nevertheless, the appropriateness of survival analysis was clearly demonstrated in the present study and its application can strongly be recommended in order to analyze similar (i.e. time to event) data.

Running rejection behaviour; rabbit; survival analysis

Published by University of Zagreb, Faculty of Agriculture, Zagreb, CROATIA
Sponsored by Ministry Science and Education of the Republic of Croatia