Abstract

Cane rat is a wild histricomorph rodent hunted in Africa for its meat. Domestication attempts have not been as successful as desired due to paucity of informations on its reproduction and fertility. In the present study, we investigated the effects of feed supplementation period on some reproductive parameters of cane rats. For this purpose, two experimental diets: Control diet (40% wheat brand and 60% maize) commonly used by cane rat farmers and complete diet (13% maize flour, 18% wheat bran, 16% cassava flour, 30.25% palm kernel meal, 5% soya bean cake, 13% cotton cake, 3% palm oil and 1.75% oyster shell) prepared in the laboratory, were randomly distributed into four groups of six cane rats each. Four treatments were considered: T0, control diet; T1, complete diet; T2, T0 diet until the positive pregnancy test and then supplemented with T1 diet, and T3, T0 diet up to 50 days after the positive pregnancy test and then supplemented with T1 diet. Primiparous female cane rats that received treatments T1 and T2 registered the highest fertility rate (100%). For multiparous, fertility rate was significantly higher (p<0.05) with T3 (83.3%) compared to T2. Generally, litter size in primiparous rats was significantly higher in treatment T1 compared to other treatments. The mortality rate of females at birth was significantly (p<0.05) higher in primiparous 41.1±16.4% compared to multiparous (8.3±14.4%). The pre-weaning mortality was significantly (p<0.05) higher in multiparous pups compared to primiparous ones during the same period. It could be concluded thatsupplementing the diet of cane rat increased fertility rate and litter size in primiparous females.