Evaluación del ensilaje de maíz y de caña de azúcar para la alimentación de cuyes castrados y no castrados.

Abstract

The objective of this research was to evaluate corn and sugar cane silage in the feeding of castrated and uncastrated guinea pigs in the growth-fattening stages. To do these 40 whole males and 40 castrated males from the improved 15 –day-old line were used; with a weight of 321.49 g. A completely Random Design (CRD) was applied in combinatorial arrangement of factors, where factor A was the types of silage and factor B the castration method. It worked with 5 repetitions and the size of the experimental unit (SEU) were 2 animals and three different treatments as follows: T1 corn silage, T2 sugar cane silage and T3 the two silages comparing them with a control treatment. For the statistical analysis the experimental results were subjected to an Analysis of Variance (ADEVA) and separation of means according to Tuckey methodology at a level of significance (P≤0,05) resulting in highly significant differences (P≤0,01) in the variables final weight (g), weight gain (g), alfalfa consumption (g), corn silage consumption (g), concentrate consumption (g), total feed consumption (g) and carcass weight (g), as opposed to a conversion and carcass yield, which reported no statistical differences. It was concluded that the best treatment was that of whole males fed with T1 (corn silage) since the inclusion of it in the daily diet of guinea pigs did not affect productive behavior. It is recommended to encourage small and large producers to apply corn silage in the daily diet of guinea pigs at times of fodder shortages.