Cavies (Guinea pigs, Cavia porcellus) are one of the species used as food and nutrition security guarantee for low-income households in many areas of sub-Saharan Africa. This review presents a synthesis of the characteristics of their production systems, their phenotypic and genetic diversity as...

Livestock play multiple roles for smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa. Mixed crop-livestock systems are common in South Kivu, eastern DR Congo, but herd sizes are small and numbers of large livestock (i.e. cattle) have declined, due to high population density, recent conflicts and extreme...

For the first time, the status of cavy culture in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is reviewed with emphasis on Sud-Kivu province. Cavy culture, as discussed in this paper, is the raising, production and utilization of the domestic cavy (i.e., Guineapig, Cavia porcellus) for consumption....

Protein supplementation in animal feeding constitute an important production factor. Thus, the supplementation of T. laxum with spirulina on the cavy production performances was study. Sixty females aged between 5 and 6 months with average weigth of 450±50 g were crossed with 8 males for a period...

Background: The nutritional requirements of pet guinea pigs are not particularly well understood, with much of the current information based on laboratory animal work and conditions which may not be directly transferable to pets. As such, both owners and veterinarians alike have limited resources...

The use of phytobiotics in feeding monogastric herbivores has several interests, including the stabilization of the caecal flora and especially the improvement of the growth of animals thanks to a better exploitation of feed resources. Thus a trial was conducted with an objective to evaluate the...

The study was carried out to evaluate the biopotency of antioxidant supplements on physiological, testicular and oxidative biomarkers in adult male guinea pigs (Cavia porcellus). A total of 60 adult male guinea pigs of three months of age with an average body weight of 500±20g were randomly...

Domestic cavies (Cavia porcellus L.) are one of the mini livestock used in Sub-Saharan Africa to improve food and nutrition security, and also income generation. In DRC, these animals are part of 'rehabilitation kits' for humanitarian organizations and because they are included in the agricultural...

The effect of the use of Curcuma longa powder as phytobiotic on feed intake and in vivo digestibility of nutrients was studied in 40 guinea pigs of English breed. This study was designed to evaluate the effects of incorporating graded levels of Curcuma longa powder on feed intake and in vivo...

At the Pastaza Experimental Station of ESPOCH-Ecuador, the effect of two humid tropic grasses Pennisetum sp. (T1) was evaluated; Pennisetum purpureum (T2), and a forage Tithonia diversifolia (T3), in the feeding of guinea pigs (Cavia porcellus) in the growth-fattening stage for 120 days. 210...