2. 1. FEEDING OF DUCKS
General Information on Production Traits Ducks occupy
an important position next to chicken farming in India.
Feeding of ducks in rural India is mostly done under
range system.
Duck keepers move from village to village with their
flocks. Ducks mostly feed on grains, insects, forage,
etc. that are available in different fields after
harvesting the crop. They also get fish, etc. from the
local streams, canals.
Farmer may hire the duck keeper to keep the ducks
on their farm lands in order to get the manure during
the nights. Eggs are collected the next day morning.
3. Khaki Campbell's
Are noted for their egg production potential and
yield 250-300 eggs per year. Khaki Campbell
duck originated by crossing a Malaysian
Indian Runner female with a Rouen male.
A strain of Khaki Campbell ducks developed in
Holland produced between 335 and 340 eggs
per duck per 365 days
The egg size was 73.4 g. This indicates their
potential.
4.
5. Pekin Duck
In China Pekin Duck is a famous food and the roasted
ducks have been the most relished dish of Emperors and high
officials in Peking since 1368 AD.
They were taken to Newyork in 1873 after one hundred and
twenty four day voyage and there became Pekin Ducks. Of
several breeds of meaty ducks, the Pekin duck has been by
far the most popular meat duck in the world. White Pekin
ducks are broiler type.
They attain a body weight of 3.3 kg to 3.6 kg by 8 weeks
of age and cumulative feed consumption is about 10 kg
(9.6 to 9.9 kg) .
Central Duck Breeding Farm (CDBF), Hessarghatta,
Bangalore imported Vigova-Super M broiler ducks from
Vietnam.
Vigova would weigh 3 kg at 49 days of age.
6.
7.
8. Digestive System and Feeding Habit
Ducks do not have a crop and their
proventriculus is cylindrical. The absence of a crop
is probably responsible for the faster rate of passage
of ingesta in ducks than in broilers.
Ducks are voracious eaters and foragers too.
Apart from compound feeds, snails, earthworms,
and insects, vegetation also form a part of their diet
when reared in ponds which reduce the feed cost.
Ducks have difficulty in swallowing dry mash.
When fed dry mash, they will take mouthful and
swill it down at the nearest water source, thus
wasting a great amount of nutrients in the water.
9. This kind of feeding behaviour is related to the
structure of the bill.
The structures of the duck's bill which allow
efficient straining of submerged food materials as
well as the consumption of the most dry food
particles of appropriate size, are not well
designed for the consumption of mixed feeds in
the dry mash form.
Most mashes form a sticky paste when mixed with
saliva and adhere to the papillae and other
structures bordering the outer margin of the
tongue and upper and lower bill.
10. This caking interferes with the movement of the food
mass to the tongue where it is normally rotated and
coated with saliva and then propelled back to the
esophagus for swallowing.
This interference results in a reduction in feed intake and
an increase in feed wastage which occurs when the
duck attempts to shake or wash off the mash adhering
to its mouthparts.
Pellet feeding has become popular and is
practiced in all the commercial farms of the
developed countries because of wastage and_labour
intensive nature of wet mash feeding. Ducks prefer
pellets to mash
when given a choice. The acceptable pellet size for a
newly hatched pekin duckling is 3.97 mm pellet
11. During the first two weeks for starter duck
rations, the pellet diameter is 3.18 mm to 3.97 mm
with length not more than 8 mm. Excessively long
pellets are also difficult for the duckling to swallow.
After about two weeks of age, Pekin duckling can
consume pellets of 4.76 mm in diameter and about
13 mm in length without difficulty.
12. Nutrient Requirement of White Pekin
Ducks
A typical three-feed programme provides 20, 18 and 16%
protein for the periods from 0-2, 2-4 and 4-7 weeks,
respectively. The feed efficiency and carcass fat may be
improved when dietary energy is increased.
NRC (1994) gave two-feed programme (Table 12). A diet
containing 22%protein for the period of 0 to 2 weeks and a
16% protein diet for the period from 2 to 7 weeks. These
requirement data are presented on the basis of 90% dietary
DM, which approximates most feeding conditions .
Nutritional requirements of ducks differ considerably
from those of chickens, and duck are less affected by
dietary bulk than chickens; hence some lower cost feed
ingredients can be used at fairly high levels in duck feeds.
It was reported that the MEn values of several feedstuffs
were very similar for ducks and broiler chickens.
13.
14. Aflatoxin poisoning in ducks:
Ducks are very much susceptible to aflatoxin .while
guinea fowls and chickens are the most tolerant. Ducks can
tolerate to the extent of 0.03 ppm as against 0.2 ppm in
case of chickens.
Muller et al. (1970) fed graded levels of aflatoxin to a variety
of birds and found that the order of toxicity ranged
from greatest for ducklings through turkey poults, goslings,
pheasants to the lowest level of toxicity in chicks.
Fernando et al. (1977, 1984) reported that aflatoxin B1 is
more toxic to ducks than is aflatoxin M1 Aflatoxin
metabolism is 90 times faster in the duck liver than in rat
liver.
A number of studies have. indicated that the reason for the
exceptional toxicity of aflatoxin B1 for ducks is that this
species contain a very high level of enzyme in the liver to
convert aflatoxin B1 to 'aflatoxicol' (B2 > B1 >
aflatoxicol).
15. Even though aflatoxin cause serious
damage to both growing dukling and laying ducks.
No aflatoxins have been found to' be carried
over into eggs; nor have they been shown to
cause any testicular damage in drakes.
Hafez etal. (1979) could find no aflatoxins in
eggs of ducks fed 8.1 mg of aflatoxin per kg of
diet over a 3 week period.
The hens soon stopped laying and showed
follicular atresia of the ovaries
16. Accumulation of Methylmercury
In a few instances, mercury has been known to
contaminate lakes or ponds via spills from factories.
Methylmercury is produced in large part by
microorganisms in the bottom of lakes and ponds
where natural deposits of mercury compounds are
found in the soil of the lake bed.
These microorganisms methylate the inorganic
mercury, thus producing a fat-soluble form of mercury
that can be taken up by the algae or other plant life
in the lake.
Small fishes consume the algae, larger fishes and
diving ducks consume the small fishes,
thereby accumulating methylmercury in their fatty
tissues particularly in the liver.
17. 2.Japanese Quail
HISTORY
• First domesticated in Japan in 1595
• There are two species of quail in India:
A. The black-breasted quail found in jungle
B. The brown-coloured Japanese Quail
• Introduced in India in 1974 from California
18. Quail farming as economically viable and
technically feasible
Quails are very robust to diseases
Very short generation interval
No vaccination is required
Low space requirement
Early maturity
Very high laying intensity- female starts laying at an age
of 42 days
19. Advantages of quail farming
Requires minimum floor space
Needs low investment
Quails are comparatively sturdy birds
Can be marketed at an early age ie. five weeks
Early sexual maturity - starts laying eggs in about
six to seven weeks of age
High rate of egg laying -280 eggs per year
20. HOUSING
Deep litter system
6 quails can be reared in a sq.ft. of floor
space.
After 2 weeks, Quails can be reared in cages
This will help to gain good body weight.
21. Nutrient Requirements for
Japanese Quail
Japanese quails reach adult body weight in about
5-6 weeks and start laying eggs for the next 12 to 18
months, Quails are becoming popular as an alternate
meat bird to the broiler chicken.
Since feed consumption is low broiler quails
require high levels of protein (27%) and critical
amino acids in the diet.
Energy requirement is 2750 Kcal ME/kg. Comparatively
lower levels of nutrients seem to be satisfactory for
egg production (CP 22%; ME 2650 Kcal/kg).
Work on nutrient requirements had been done at
Central Avian Research Institute (CARI), Izatanagar in
22.
23. Egg production
Smaller eggs than chicken
Average age at first egg production is about
50 days
Average egg production 280-300/year
Eggs laid between 3-5 pm
Eggs are multicoloured (dark brown, white,
buff, blue etc)
Egg wt. is 10-12 g
26. 3. Feeding of Turkey
Turkey birds are mainly reared for meat
purpose in India since turkey provides excellent
meat.
Turkey birds are reared in Central Poultry
Breeding Farm (CPBF), Hessarghatta near
Bangalore. They are as efficient as chicken in the
utilization of feed for growth.
The breeds reared in CPBF are Broad Breasted
Bronze turkey and Broad breasted Large
White turkey. The data on average body weight
and feed efficiency as published by CPBF,
27.
28. Nutrient requirements of Turkeys are higher
because of their faster growth.
The protein requirement of poults is 28% during 0
to 4 weeks and the energy requirement for the
corresponding period is 2800 Kcal MEn per kg
diet.
The energy and protein requirement of turkey (20
to 24 weeks for males and 17 to 20 weeks for
females) are 3300 Kcal MEn/kg diet and
14%,(NRC, 1994).
Turkey's requirement particularly for vitamins A,
D,
Niacin and choline is substantially higher than for
29. Starter diets and poult viability
Feeder management and feed texture are just as
important as feed formulation in influencing early
poult growth.
Poults are much more reluctant to eat mash
rather than crumbled feed, and this phenomenon
is most evident in the7 – 14 d growth period .
Quality crumbles and then quality pellets are
important to ensure optimum feed intake.
During the first week, poults should not have to
move too far to find feed and water.
It is good management practice to ‘overfill’
feeders at this time, to ensure easy access to
feed, even though this creates some feed
wastage .
30. There has always been higher mortality in the first
week in turkeys compared to chickens.
Mortality of 1 – 2% in the first 7 d is still common,
and in part, this may relate to feeding program.
As its name implies ‘starve-out’ is caused by
failure of poults to eat and/or drink, even though
feed is apparently readily accessible.
For whatever reasons, metabolic conditions
cause lethargy in some poults and they seem
reluctant to feed and drink.
The situation may be compounded by hatchery
conditions such as beak trimming, vaccinating,
detoeing and desnooding of male poults
31.
32. Broiler turkeys
• There has been a decline in production of broiler
turkeys, essentially due to competition with large
roaster chickens.
• None of the commercial breeders now have a
strain specifically designed for this market.
• Feeding programs for small females essentially
entail quicker scheduling of diets with earlier
moves to higher energy diets.
• It is very difficult to obtain sufficient fat depots on
males for this 6 –6.5 kg broiler category and so
they are rarely used for this purpose.
• Turkey hens will be around 5kg at 10 weeks and
6.5 kg at 12 weeks with feed conversion at 1.8 –
2.0.
33.
34.
35. 4.FEEDING OF GEESE
Geese are largely herbivorous. Geese are reared under
three different systems
1.The goslings are fed starter diets for 2 weeks in
confinement and ther after allowed for foraging
2.The goslings are fed limited amounts of feed
throughout the growing period and allowed for
foraging
3.The gosling are provided feed adlibitum consumpstion
in confinement. the energy and protein requirement of
geese during 0-4weeks is 2900kcal MEn/kg diet and
20% while requirement of energy and protein after
4weeks is3000k cal and 15%(NRC1994)
36.
37. Because geese produce relatively few eggs, their
nutrient requirements for egg production are not
greatly increased over maintenance – or at least not
increased for any sustained period.
In order to control body weight, breeder candidates
should be offered holding diets soon after selection
,and this feed offered on a restricted basis up to time
of maturity.
Specialized breeder diets can be introduced 2 – 3
weeks prior to anticipated first egg, or alternatively
the birds fed increasing quantities of the holding diet
together with 3 – 4 g calcium/d as large particle
limestone or oyster shell.
If breeders are retained for subsequent breeding
seasons,then holding diets and/or grains with
minerals and vitamins should be allocated according
