Assessment of different diets in the productive behavior of native guinea pigs (Cavia porcellus) from the Andes of Ecuador

The objective of this study was to evaluate the productive performance of native guinea pigs fed forage and forage plus concentrate diets. Thirty-six native weaned guinea pigs from the Provinces of Azuay and Cañar were distributed under a completely randomized design consisting of six diets with different levels of inclusion of grass (Lolium multiflorum) and legume (Medicago sativa) with or without the addition of concentrate (D1, D2, D3 and D4, D5, D6, respectively), where productive performance: total feed intake (CTA), total protein intake (CTP), feed conversion (CA), final live weight (PF), total weight gain (GPT), average daily weight gain (GDP) and economic parameters (Production cost, net profit, merit economic) was evaluated in the different treatments. Diets 3 (20 % L. multiflorum; 70 % M. sativa and 10 % commercial feed) and 4 (20 % L. multiflorum; 80 % M. sativa) had the best CA (8.21 and 8.59; P<0.05, respectively); GPT (624.47 and 593.78 g; P<0.05, respectively) and daily GDP compared to the other treatments (5.95 and 5.66 g·d-1; P<0.05, respectively). Therefore, although native guinea pigs have lower productive yields with respect to improved lines, the diets that allow expressing their maximum performance in reference to CA, GPT, GDP, PF and economic merit, are those containing levels greater than 50 % of alfalfa inclusion with or without commercial concentrate.