We investigated the possible effects of housing (deep litter on concrete floor, DEEP vs ground soil with the possibility to dig burrows, DIG), the presence of a male, and genotype (Mecklenburg, MC, or Hyplus) on aggressive behaviour, social contacts, does’ and kits’ injuries and progeny mortality. Twelve groups of six rabbit does (n=72) were randomly assigned to four treatments (two housing systems and two genotypes). Four days after grouping, a male rabbit was added to each group and remained there for 10 days. Each doe was observed for 30-min twice a day for each period, at 10:00 and 22:00 hr (Periods: after the group formation, after the male was added, before kindling, 14 and 35 days after kindling). Aggressive behaviour between does was sampled in one-min intervals following the one-zero sampling method. The number of injuries on does and the number of injured kits and postnatal kit mortality was also recorded. The effects of housing, the presence of a male, and genotype were tested using multivariate Generalized Linear Mixed Models. The housing system had a significant effect in MC does, where MC does from DIG housing performed less aggressive actions towards other does compared to MC does from DEEP housing during the group formation (genotype nested within the housing, P < 0.001) and in 14 days after kindling (genotype nested within the housing, P < 0.05). Furthermore, aggressive events decreased following the introduction of a male in both genotypes and housing systems (genotype and observation period nested within the housing, MC DIG T = 3.68, P < 0.001; MC DEEP T = 7.21, P < 0.001; Hyplus DIG T = 5.23, P < 0.001; Hyplus DEEP T = 5.65, P < 0.001) and increased after the male removal (MC DEEP T = - 3.96, P < 0.001; Hyplus DIG T = - 2.97, P < 0.01; Hyplus DEEP T = - 3.96, P < 0.001). Reduced aggression was also reflected in a lower number of injuries in does (genotype nested within housing F3,55 = 296.69, P < 0.001). Housing treatment and genotype influenced the number of injured kits (housing F1,57 = 1265.97, P < 0.001; genotype F1,57 = 547.95, P < 0.001) and kit mortality (housing F1,56 = 16.85, P = 0.001; genotype F1,56 = 56.9, P < 0.001). The results indicate that the proper combination of male presence with does genotype and housing should be carefully considered for breeding.

Moderating of Rabbit Does Aggressiveness by Housing Conditions, Genotype, and Presence of a Male