Evaluación del botón de oro (Tithonia diversifolia) en la alimentación de cuyes

Abstract

To evaluate the wild sunflower protein (Tithonia diversifolia), in the feeding of fattening guinea pigs (Cavia porcellus), A Block Design was applied, entirely at random, with five treatments and four repetitions per treatment: T0: 100% concentrated; T1: 75% concentrate and 25% wild sunflower; T2: 50% concentrated and 50% wild sunflower; T3: 25% concentrate and 75% wild sunflower; T4: 100% wild sunflower. 80 male guinea pigs of 40 days of age, from the improved Peruvian line, were used. The guinea pigs showed significantly vast differences in their biological behavior (p < 0.01) in all their studied variables at 70 days. T0 obtained the highest final weight with 969.63 g, 63.0 g, followed by T1 with 920.69 g; in the daily weight gain variable, the best outcome was obtained by T0 9.55 g/day, followed by T1 8.93 g/day, in terms of feed conversion, T0 obtained 4.68, followed by T1 with 4.99. In conclusion, the wild sunflower is an alternative for the fattening of guinea pigs, supplied in low quantities, conforming no more than 25% of the diet.