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Milk Production and Lactation Curve of Guinea Pigs¹

Department of Dairy Science University of Missouri- Columbia 65211

ABSTRACT

Milk was collected daily from 65 albino English guinea pigs throughout the first 21 days of lactation. Mean milk yield was 21.7 ± .38 g per day per animal. Production on the 1st day of lactation was 10.8 ± .44 g. It peaked on days 6 and 7 at 40.1 ± 1.17 g and then decreased. It was 18.7 ± .93 g on day 14 and 2.9 ± .25 g on day 21. Total milk production for 21 days varied from 223 to 787 g with a mean of 455 ± 13.2 g. Predictive equations for lactation curves included linear, quadratic, cubic, linear-, quadratic-, cubic-cum-log, and several exponential models. The equation chosen was Y(g) = 10.23D ^.913e^–.00984D2 where Y was milk production per day and D was day of lactation. This equation had a coefficient of determination of .812 for an individual response. Alternately, three lines could be used to fit the lactation curve. These were: Y = .739 + 10.35D – .625D² for days 1 to 6, Y = 61.9 – 3.10D for days 7 to 18, and Y = 25.5 – 1.08D for days 18 to 21.

¹ Contribution from Missouri Agriculture Experiment Station, Journal Series No. 8596. Approved by the Director.