Effect of aqueous and hydroethanolic extracts of avocado seeds (Persea Americana) on nutrient digestibility in guinea pigs (Cavia Porcellus)

Feeding is the aspect with the greatest cost in livestock breeding. This work was launched in an attempt to find natural growth promoters in the breeding of domestic animals. This work was carried out in the city of Dschang in the western part of Cameroon. It focuses on the evaluation of two extraction solvents (water and waterethanol mixture) on the phytochemistry of avocado seed extracts and their effect on feed digestibility in guinea pigs. To this end, three experimental rations (without extracts; 200 g aqueous extracts /100 kg rations and 200 g hydroethanolic extracts /100 kg rations) were tested on 30 guinea pigs divided into three groups of 10 (5 males and 5 females) similar in terms of body weight. The main results revealed the presence of secondary metabolites such as phenols and tannins in all extracts. However, the aqueous extracts had higher phenol content (1337.18 mg/100 g) as compared to the hydroethanol extracts (561.5 mg/100 g). Moreover, adding extracts to the ration resulted in an improvement in nutrient intake compared to the control (without extracts). In effect, the aqueous extract induced an improvement in feed intake, cellulose digestion (51.85 ± 5.35) and in digestibility (93.27 ± 0.72) compared to other rations. In short, aqueous extracts can be used to improve feeding efficiency of guinea pigs. Nevertheless, a study on the inclusion rate is still necessary to better control its effect. *Correspondence to: Emile Miegoue, Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agronomy and Agricultural Sciences, University of Dschang, Cameroon. P.O. Box: 188. Dschang-Cameroon, Tél: (237) 69712 1297; E-mail: emile.miegoue@ univ-dschang.org, migoumile@yahoo.fr