Performnace of Lactating Grasscutters (Thryonomys swinderian

The grasscutter is a wild herbivorous rodent, which is widely distributed throughout the semi-humid regions of Sub-Sahara Africa, where grass provides its main habitat and food. The raising of grasscutters in captivity would require the provision of balanced diets formulated from low-cost and easily available feedstuffs. A study was conducted to evaluate the effect of different fibre sources in cassava-based diets on lactating grasscutters (Thryonomys swinderianus). The grasscutters were separated into four groups and fed diets differing in their fibre sources – wheat offals (WO), palm kernel cake (PKC), maize sievates (MS), or a combination of equal amounts of all the fibre feedstuffs (MWP). There were four replicates per treatment, and one lactating grasscutter per replicate in the experiment, which lasted for twelve weeks. The results show significant (P<0.05) differences in forage intake, forage dry matter intake, concentrate (diet) intake and total feed intake by doe and litter, which were highest on the maize sieviates diet and lowest on the wheat offal diet.

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