Assessment of natural growth promoters in the feed of guinea pigs (cavia porcellus.) for the efficiency of productive parameters

Abstract

Natural growth promoters were evaluated in the feeding of guinea pigs (Cavia porcellus.) for the efficiency of the productive parameters. Three treatments with growth promoters were started: turmeric (C. longa), cinnamon (C. verum) and ginger (C. verum), at a dose of 10 g per kilogram of food, compared to a control treatment with a traditional diet. . (More balanced alfalfa), with 3 repetitions. The completely randomized design (DCA) was implemented. The diet supplied was 250 g/day of grass/experimental unit; plus 30g/day of concentrate/experimental unit in the Breeding, Rearing and Finishing stage. Tukey's significance tests are applied at the significance levels of (P ≤ 0.05) for the analysis of Weight Gain, Feed Consumption, Feed Conversion, Carcass Yield and Cost Benefit. The results indicate that the highest food consumption was obtained with the treatment with traditional food (2568.15 g).  The best feed conversion value was achieved in the treatment with cinnamon with a value of 2.89. The greatest gain in live weight is evident in the treatment with cinnamon (801.33 g), being statistically superior to the other treatments, while the lowest gain in live weight was presented in the treatment with traditional food (681.33 g). The treatments in the carcass yield variable were not different from each other (p<0.05), but the highest value existed in the treatment with turmeric (67.55%) compared to the other treatments. The highest benefit/cost ratio was reported in the treatment with turmeric (2.06), being statistically equal and superior to the treatment with cinnamon (2.05) and treatment with ginger (2.01), while the lowest benefit/cost ratio was presented in the treatment with traditional food (1.60).The use of turmeric as a growth promoter is profitable and sustainable for the rural producer.