![]() In a resource depleting world these species can serve as a potential source of animal protein to decrease poverty and hunger. This review highlights the nutritive value of meat from neo-tropical rodents that have the potential to be domesticated. Future work has to address the nutritional requirements for the growing agouti as well as some treatment options for managements of similar cases in the future. These findings showed that the agouti may have been under some stress (nutritional or environmental) which predisposed this animal to this infection. The animal showed no apparent sign of disease except for lethargy and subsequently died before any treatment was administered. ![]() is case was seen in a nine-month-old male agouti that was being housed at the University of the West Indies Field Station (UWI, UFS). Bacterial infections have been reported in the mammary tissue as well as the skin of the agouti, but to the authors’ knowledge, this is the first report of systemic infection in the agouti affecting several organs. Bacterial analysis revealed that the infection was caused by Escherichia coli. The aim of this short communication is to report a case of systemic bacterial infection that affected the lungs and liver of a captive agouti. Animals which are kept in captivity may present diseases that would not have been reported in the wild due to lack of observation or the lack of occurrence. Recently, these animals are being kept in captivity as a source of animal protein. As such, some research studies have been done on the biology of this animal. The agouti (Dasyprocta leporina) is a neotropical rodent which has the potential to be domesticated. It was therefore concluded that dietary CP of 100-125 g/kg DM can satisfy minimum daily intake of 4.0 g digestible CP which was adequete to achieve average daily gain of approximately 5.0 g in the captive reared juvenile male agouti. Intake of gross energy was highest (1.2 MJ/day) in agoutis fed the LP diet. Dry matter intake of LP diet was 17% and 39% higher than MP and HP diets, respectively. However, apparent CP digestibility (61.2%) and intake of digestible CP (4.5 g/day) were highest with MP diet. Daily CP intake was unaffected by dietary CP levels (P > 0.05). After an initial 6-weeks adaptation period, measurements of dry matter and nutrient intake and weight gain were recorded weekly for 5 weeks. ![]() The treatment groups were low crude protein (LP-100 g/kg DM), medium crude protein (MP-125 g/kg DM) and high crude protein (HP-150 g/kg DM). ![]() Nine juvenile male agoutis were allocated to one of three treatment groups with varying levels of crude protein (CP). ![]() Therefore this study was done to investigate protein requirements in captive reared juvenile male agoutis. However, its dietary protein requirements are largely unknown. The red-rumped agouti (Dasyprocta leporina) is a neotropical animal with potential for captive rearing for meat production. Neo-tropical animal species are well adopted to these environments and can be maintained on unconventional feedstuffs such as forages, fruits and vegetable waste. The rearing of neotropical animals for meat has the potential to improve food security in the Caribbean, South and Central America. ![]()
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