Productive Performance and Carcass Characteristics of Captive Grasscutters (Thryonomys swinderianus) Fed Concentrate Diets Containing Varying Levels of Guinea Grass

An experiment was conducted to evaluate the productive performance and carcass characteristics of three groups of growing grasscutters fed home-made concentrate diets. The objective was to assess the feeding values of the diets. The diets were labelled 0% grass diet, 7.5% grass diet and 15% grass dietand respectively contained 0, 7.5 and 15% guinea grass, Panicum maximum. The completely randomised design was used in the experiment. Both final body weight and daily weight gain of the grasscutters differed (P<0.05) between treatment groups. The mean (±SD) final body weights were 2362±9.01, 2288±3.06 and 1821±10.08 g for animals on the 0% grass diet, 7.5% grass diet and 15% grass diet, respectively. The corresponding means (±SD) for daily live weight gain were 5.5±0.03, 5.3±0.04 and 3.9±0.06 g/kg body mass. Daily dry matter intake (DMI) also differed (P<0.05) between treatment groups, being 28.0±0.09, 25.7±0.05 and 29.6±0.18 g/kg body mass for animals on the 0% grass diet, 7.5% grass diet and 15% grass diet, respectively. The means (±SD) for cold (commercial) carcass weight, which were 1477±6.56, 1287±5.57 and 1037±7.55 g for animals on the 0% grass diet, 7.5% grass diet and 15% grass diet, respectively, also differed (P<0.05) between treatment groups. The 0% grass diet and the 7.5% grass diet supported high growth rate and carcass weight and from an economic point of view they were the most efficiently used as they produced the cheapest per unit carcass. It was, therefore, concluded that both the 0% grass diet and 7.5% grass diet could be used as complete diets to rear growing grasscutters in captivity.