Lactic acid microorganisms and yeasts as a supplement in fattening rations for cuyes (Cavia porcellus) Ayacucho, Peru

Abstract

Lactic acid microorganisms have a beneficial effect on the fattening of guinea pigs by improving the degradation of organic matter and preventing salmonellosis. The objective was to evaluate the lactic acid and yeast microorganisms as a supplement in the rations for the fattening of guinea pigs (Cavia porcellus) in Ayacucho. The bacteria were activated in lactose broth at 37°C for 48 hours in anaerobiosis, through consecutive dilutions, they were seeded on Rogosa sharpe agar and incubated at 37°C for 24 to 48 hours to count the number of live cells/ml. We used 20 weaned male kits with homogeneous size and weight. There were 5 treatments supplementing with lactic acid bacteria to the balanced food: T1 (Lactobacillus acidophilus), T2 (Lactobacillus casei), T3 (Lactobacillus acidophilus and Lactobacillus casei) and T5 (control) was provided at free discretion and alfalfa at 10% of their live weight plus water. It was proposed under the completely randomized design with 5 treatments, 2 repetitions and 2 guinea pigs as an experimental unit. The results shown for live weight and weight gain were not significant (p<0.05) and for feed consumption and feed conversion were significant and by the Tukey test it was found that the treatments with the combination T3 Lactobacillus acidophilus + Lactobacillus casei and T2 Lactobacillus casei were better, achieving commercial weight for the market in eight weeks of treatment, as well as better carcass yields, with this it can be intuited that microorganisms positively influence the development of guinea pigs.