Volume: 56 Issue: 1
Year: 2025, Page: 40-44, Doi: https://doi.org/10.51966/jvas.2025.56.1.40-44
Received: Sept. 22, 2024 Accepted: Dec. 7, 2024 Published: March 31, 2025
An experiment was conducted at Avian Research Station, Thiruvazhamkunnu, Palakkad, to evaluate the effect of feed restriction from eight to 24 weeks of age on carcass characteristics, weight of ovary and oviduct and plasma corticosterone levels in White Pekin ducks. A total of 180 female ducks were assigned to five treatment groups viz., T1 (ad libitum), T2 (10 per cent restriction), T3 (20 per cent restriction), T4 (30 per cent restriction) and T5 (40 per cent restriction) at seven weeks of age. Ducks were maintained on feed restricted diet from eight to 24 weeks. Feed restriction lowered the pre-slaughter weight and carcass weight at 24 weeks of age whereas it had negligible effect on dressing yield. The yield of abdominal fat was significantly (p<0.05) higher in T1, T2 and T3 compared to T4 and T5. Ducks in T2 (10 per cent restriction) had significantly (p<0.05) higher mean weight of ovary and oviduct than T1, T3, T4 and T5 at 24 weeks of age. From the results, it could be concluded that intermediate feed restriction at the level of 10 per cent in White Pekin breeder ducks influenced pre-slaughter weight, carcass weight and development of reproductive organs without eliciting stress to the birds.
Keywords: Feed restriction, duck, White Pekin, abdominal fat, pre-slaughter weight, carcass weight, corticosterone, ovary, oviduct
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© 2025 Harsha et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Harsha, V., Cyriac, S., Binoj, C., Prasoon, S., Shamna, T.P. and Sreekumar, T.R. 2024. Effect of feed restriction during rearing period on various slaughter parameters and plasma corticosterone levels in White Pekin ducks.
J. Vet. Anim. Sci. 56 (1):40-44