Sixty crossbred rabbits (local x New Zealand) with average initial  live weight of 735±4.64g and 8 weeks of age were allocated in a completely randomized design with 5 treatments and 3 replications and were fed 5 levels of dried cassava chips (0, 10, 20, 30 and 40 g/rabbit/day) as a supplement to Para grass fed ad libitum. Increasing the offer level of dried cassava chips in a basal diet of Para grass fed to growing rabbits led to linear increases in total DM intake, live weight gain, coefficients of apparent digestibility and N retention. There were positive linear relationships between coefficients of apparent DM digestibility and live weight gain and N retention. It was proposed that the determinant of rabbit growth rate in forage-based diets is the overall apparent digestibility of the diet rather than the composition of the diet in terms of the relative proportions of soluble and structural carbohydrates.