A theoretical approach to energy requirements in guinea pigs (Cavia porcellus)

Abstract

Introduction. In some countries of the Andean region, interest in guinea pig breeding (Cavia porcellus) is growing due to the potential that the meat of this species has to contribute to food security. With the genetic improvement that has been carried out in guinea pigs, animals with high productive yields have been obtained. However, these achievements have not been accompanied by studies on the net energy requirements of guinea pigs. Objective. To make a theoretical estimation of the energy requirements for maintenance and weight gain in guinea pigs. Development. Using bibliographic information on energy nutrition in rabbits and guinea pigs, an approximate calculation of energy requirements for weight gain and maintenance in guinea pigs was established. For this, an animal with an initial weight of 0.3 and a final weight of 1.2 kg with an average gain of 13 g/day was considered. It was found that studies on energy in guinea pigs for meat production are given in energy densities, mostly in digestible energy (DE) in kilocalories per kilogram of dry matter of food, whose values were between 2700 and 3000 kcal/kg and to a lesser extent of metabolizable energy. According to theoretical calculations, for an animal weighing 0.75 kg on average, the requirements for DE for maintenance and gain were 92.8 and 49.34 kcal/day, respectively. With a diet of 3000 kcal of DE in the food, the animal must consume 47.38 g of dry matter to meet its total requirements. Conclusion. The energy requirements found from theoretical calculations were coherent for guinea pigs bred for meat production from a biological point of view.