Cavia porcellus Production Fed With Tropical Humid Pastures and Forage From Ecuador Under Pyramidal Breeding System

Abstract

Abstract At the Pastaza Experiment Station of ESPOCH-Ecuador, the effect of two tropical humid grasses Pennisetum sp. (T1) and Pennisetum purpureum (T2), and the plant Tithonia diversifolia (T3), in the feeding of Cavia porcellus (guinea pigs) in the growth phase was evaluated. For this experiment, 210 animals of the improved Peruvian breed were used in three treatments with 70 repetitions. The data obtained was subjected to a completely randomized design, under the Tukey multiple comparison test at a significance level (p ≤ 0.01 and p ≤ 0.05). The fruitful results established that a more efficient feed conversion (5.57) was obtained by providing Tithonia diversifolia (T3), which required fewer quantities to be transformed into bodyweight. However, the best final weights (835.3 g), weight increases (560.97 g), feed consumption (4835.93 g), balanced consumption (2033.66 g), total feed intake (6869.59 g), carcass weights (518.14 g), carcass yield (60.28%), as well as lower mortality were recorded by providing Pennisetum sp. (T1). It also had the lowest cost per kilogram of weight gain with 1.90, as it has a high protein content. The economic analysis determined that it is more profitable to breed guinea pigs in pyramidal burrows when using Pennisetum sp. (T1), since its usefulness (B/C 1.34) was 34 cents for every dollar invested. This is notable because it solves the problems of feeding in the humid tropics, as well as housing them in burrows which reduces the breeding space, thus saving resources that increase profitability.

Keywords

• pennisetum sp., pennisetum purpureum, tithonia diversifolia, cavia porcellus, sistema piramidal.