Analysis of nutrition profile of rubber seed, Hevea brasiliensis, and it's application on the growth performance of Syrian hamster, Mesocricetus auratus

This research aims to examine the nutrition profile of rubber seed and the growth performance of Syrian Hamster, Mesocricetus auratus by using feed formulation from Rubber Seed, Hevea brasiliensis compared to the hamsters which were fed with commercial feed as control in this experiment. In this study, Rubber Seed Cake (RSC) was fermented with the molasses and was kept for a month in order to allow the anaerobic fermentation process to take place. This procedure is carried out in order to assess the effect of its microorganism and enzymatic ability on the cyanide level and nutritional value of the rubber seed cake and hence enhance its agricultural and industrial applications. The fermented feed is used in bacterial isolation from 0 week to the 6th weeks of the experiment. The microbial population shows highest growth in the Plate Count Agar (PCA) with significant difference at (P<0.05). Small amount of sample was taken every week in order to determine the nutrient content of the feed using the Kjedahl method. The results showed fermentation process can increase the nutrition content of the rubber seed. The research was continued with feeding trial on hamsters to analyse the growth performance of the hamster when fed with fermented rubber seed. The difference of the mean of specific growth rate of hamster in both treatments was 0.95 µ. This shows fermented rubber seed had potential as alternative feed for hamsters.