A sufficient dietary fibre supply is essential to prevent digestive troubles in the growing rabbit. The most recent recommendations have implicated several classes of fibre, including low-digested fibre (lignocellulose) and digestible fibre (hemicelluloses and pectins). Moreover, agro-industrial by-products (brans and pulps), rich in digestible fibre, are often incorporated in rabbit feeding, although this fibre fraction is not analysed by the current routine method. Therefore, the present review focuses on the respective role of low-digested and digestible fibre fractions in the digestive health of the growing rabbit, after weaning. It gives levels of fibre classes, including pectins, in some feed ingredients classically used in rabbit feeding. A brief overview of some characteristics of dietary fibre and some routine methods to estimate fibre fractions in animal feed ingredients are presented. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.