Hagan B.A., Asafu-Adjaye A., Darfour-Oduro K.A., Boa-Amponsem K.
CSIR-Animal Research Institute, P. O. Box AH 20, Achimota, Ghana
Hagan, B.A., CSIR-Animal Research Institute, P. O. Box AH 20, Achimota, Ghana; Asafu-Adjaye, A., CSIR-Animal Research Institute, P. O. Box AH 20, Achimota, Ghana; Darfour-Oduro, K.A., CSIR-Animal Research Institute, P. O. Box AH 20, Achimota, Ghana; Boa-Amponsem, K., CSIR-Animal Research Institute, P. O. Box AH 20, Achimota, Ghana
The effect of male-female exposure period on some reproductive parameters of grasscutter was undertaken at the Grasscutter Unit of CSIR-Animal Research Institute, Pokuase between June 2008 and December 2009. Twenty-eight female grasscutters and 10 males were paired in the first round of mating whilst 29 females and 15 males were used in the second round of mating. Mating colonies of grasscutter were subdivided into three groups based on male-female exposure periods (M-FEP) of 4, 6 and 8 weeks. The mean litter size, time of exposure to parturition (TEP) and litter sex ratio were 3.96±0.32, 164.7±1.45 days and 0.43±0.05 respectively. The time to conception (TC) was 12.7±1.45 days. Male-female exposure period did not affect (P>0.05) TC, litter size, TEP, and litter sex ratio. Conception rate and percentage littering were higher for females that were exposed for 6 weeks. Sixty-four percent (64%) of all females that conceived did so within two weeks expo sure to the males. The pre-weaning average daily gain of the young grasscutters was 5 g/day. This study suggests that male-female exposure periods did not have any significant effect on reproductive traits of grasscutters. Grasscutter farmers could therefore separate their females after 2 weeks of exposure and the extra males can be fattened and sold for income generation.