Tropical shrub forage in fattening guinea pigs (Cavia porcellus Linnaeus)

Abstract

The research was carried out in the "La María" Experimental Farm, owned by the State Technical University of Quevedo (UTEQ), located at km 71/2 of Vía Quevedo-Mocache, province of Los Ríos, whose geographic location of 1º5'13"south latitude and 79º32'22" west longitude and at a height of 73 masl. The productive behavior of guinea pigs (Cavia porcellus L.) was determined under the effect of the consumption of tropical bush forages (Morera: Morus alba, Caraca: Erythrina poeppigiana, Golden button: Tithonia diversifolia) and the profitability of the treatments. A completely randomized design (DCA) with five repetitions was applied. We used 40 male coats of 25 days of age with an average weight of 368.75±36.90 g. To establish the differences between means, the Tukey test (P≤0.05) was applied. The forage intake (CF), final weight (PF), weight gain (GP), feed conversion index (ICA), yield to the carcass (RC) were evaluated. The profitability was determined through the benefit-cost ratio. The highest (P<0.05) total forage consumption was recorded by treatments based on savoy  grass and gold button (1086.80±18.08 and 1116.80±33.34 g, respectively). The highest GP (464.90±34.24 and 438.80±32.20, which represents a gain of 8.30 and 7.84 g animal-1 day-1), ICA  (3.47±0.18 -  3.64±0.22); RC (70.90±0.75 - 68.13±0.74  %), the treatments were based on mulberry and caraca (P<0.05), likewise the most efficient profitability (67.18 - 67.23 %), which shows the positive effect of the inclusion of these forages in the fattening of guinea pigs.