Four diets were arranged using a 2 X 2 factorial design with two levels of lignocellulose, a high 'HF' or a low level 'LF' (acid-detergent fibre (ADF) = 191 v. 155 g/kg), combined with two levels of starch replacing 50 g/kg of digestible fibre (DF = hemicelluloses + pectins), a high starch (low DF) 'HS' or a low starch ( high DF) level 'LS' (starch = 193 v. 123 g/kg). Two trials were conducted to measure digestive efficiency and rate of passage, respectively. A third trial was performed in a network of six French experimental breeding units to measure growth and digestive health on 507 rabbits per diet. Foods were offered ad libitum from weaning to slaughter. No significant interactions were detected between the effect of the level of lignocellulose and the effect of starch replacement by DF, on rabbit digestion, performance or digestive health. A proportional increase of overall food digestibility ( organic matter ( OM) or energy) was observed with the decrease of ADF level. When 50 g/kg of DF was replaced by starch we observed a significant improvement of OM and energy digestibility (+ 0.03 units). The whole-tract mean retention time of particles was 21 h. It was significantly longer with a lower ADF level (+ 5.4 h for LF v. HF diets), and it tended to increase when DF was substituted by starch ( + 2.2 h for HS v. LS diets). Between weaning and slaughter, food intake was mainly affected by the ADF level (139 v. 130 g/day respectively for HF and LF diets) and to a lesser extent by the replacement of DF by starch (136.2 v. 133.4 g/day, respectively for LS and HS diets). The weight gain was only slightly higher for high starch (low DF) diets ( + 1 g/day) without an effect of the ADF level. Between weaning and slaughter, morbidity and mortality rates ( from acute diarrhoea) were significantly reduced with high-fibre diets (-6 and -4 units respectively), while the replacement of DF by starch had no significant effect.