EVALUATION OF FEEDING SYSTEMS AND QUANTITY OF FOOD ON PRODUCTIVE PARAMETERS OF GUINEA PIGS (Cavia porcellus)

Abstract

The objective of this work was to evaluate feeding systems and amount of food on the productive parameters of guinea pigs (Cavia porcellus). For this, 90 weaned male guinea pigs of the Peru breed were used, randomly distributed in nine treatments. Weight gain, feed intake and feed conversion were determined. The weight gain with respect to the feeding systems was: 663.97 g for the mixed feeding, 412.66 g for the feeding based on only hydroponic green fodder (FVH) of oats - vetch and 398.48 g for the feeding based on balanced food ; The results of the statistical analysis present significant statistical differences (P<0.05) between systems, registering the highest weight gain in the mixed system. The weight gain with respect to the amount of food was: 669.52 g, 527.46 g and 278.13 g for C1 (ad libitum), C2 (250 g of FVH of oats - vetch and 50 g of balanced food) and C3 (200 g of FVH of oats - vetch and 20 g of balanced food) respectively; The results of the statistical analysis present significant statistical differences (P<0.05) between amounts of food, obtaining the highest weight gain with C1. The food consumption regarding the feeding systems of the guinea pigs was: 3,864.07 g for the mixed feeding, 3,500.72 g for the feeding based on only oat-vetch FVH and 1,698.65 g for the balanced feeding; The results of the statistical analysis present significant statistical differences (P<0.05) between systems, registering the highest food consumption in the mixed system. The food consumption regarding the amount of food was: 4,114.57 g, 2,941.25 g and 2,007.63 g for C1, C2 and C3 respectively; The results of the statistical analysis present significant statistical differences (P<0.05) between amounts of food, registering the highest food consumption in C1. The feed conversion regarding the feeding systems was: 5.22 for the feed based on balanced feed, 5.81 for the mixed feed, and 9.79 for the feed based on only FVH of oats - vetch; The results of the statistical analysis present significant statistical differences (P<0.05) between systems, registering the best feed conversion in the balanced system. The feed conversion with respect to the amount of food was: 5.53, 6.33 and 8.96 for C2, C1 and C3 respectively; The results of the statistical analysis show significant statistical differences (P<0.05) between amounts of feed, obtaining the best feed conversions in C2 and C1. The feeding systems and the amounts of food have an effect on the productive parameters of guinea pigs of the Peru breed.