COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF NUTRITIONAL COMPOSITION OF MEAT OF DOMESTICATED AND WILD GRASSCUTTER (Thryonomys swinderianus)

This study was conducted to compare the proximate composition of meat of domesticated Grasscutters and those obtained from the wild. A total of sixteen grasscutters of weight 3.5-5kg were purchased for the experiment: eight domesticated (four matured males and four matured females) from the Forestry Research Institute of Nigeria (FRIN), Jericho Ibadan and the remaining eight (four matured males and four matured females) captured from the wild. The animals were allotted into two dietary treatments with four replicates and two animals per replicate in a Complete Randomized Design (CRD). Results from the experiment showed that domestication had no significant effect (P<0.05) on the crude protein, fat, ash, moisture and crude fibre. Values for crude protein 18.35% were numerically higher in the wild, while the cholesterol content 0.079% was higher for the domesticated ones. Grasscutter from the wild was significantly richer in calcium 6.68% (P<0.05) and also numerically higher in iron 4.36% and magnesium 0.75% but had less zinc 1.14%. From this study it can be deduced that domestication has lesser effect on nutritional composition of grasscutter meat compared to those from the wild therefore, people who live in urban and rural areas can consume both domesticated and wild grasscutter without any adverse effect on their health.