Consumption of some tropical grass forages by guinea-pigs (Cavia porcellus): peformances and determination of required areas to maintain a flock | Consommation de quelques graminees tropicales par le cobaye (Cavia porcellus): performances et determination des surfaces necessaires a l'entretien d'un cheptel
2000
Kouonmenioc, J. | Ngou Ngoupayou, J.D. | Fosto Tagny, J.M. (Institut de Recherches zootechniques et veterinaires de Nkolbisson, Yaounde (Cameroon))
In order to develop the mini-livestock sector in the agricultural production systems, investigations have been carried out on five tropical grass forages in the Cameroon forest humid zone in order to show the impact of organic manure on the total biomass production for guinea-pigs feeding. Adequate forages area required to maintain a family size guinea-pigs flock was determined. These various forage species compared in terms of growth showed positive response to guinea pigs manure. Panicum maximum with a 8 weeks regrowth which yielded 5146.7 kg DM/ha (on increase of 1500.8 kg) seemed to be the best forage in terms of production. Positive response of these grasses to organic manure from guinea-pigs farming may direct the farmer not to use the manure not only for food and cash cropping, but also to sustain forage production. For a 8 weeks cutting frequency, the adequate forage area to maintain a family flock size of 20 animals ranges from 90.8 m2 x 2 for Brachiaria ruziziensis to 152.9 m2 x 2 for Trypsacum laxum.
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