Abstract

Objectives: Protein is a vital element in poultry diets for growth, muscle and feather development, and overall health. This study aimed to optimize the amount of crude protein (CP) in the ration of BAU Black and White crossbred ducks for better growth, carcass characteristics, and meat quality.
Materials and Methods: A total of 264-day-old ducklings were randomly and equally distributed into four treatments allocating 16.50% (T1), 18.00% (T2), 19.50% (T3) and 21.00% (T4) CP in the ration. Live weight and feed intake data were measured weekly. At 10 weeks of age, 24 blood samples were collected from 4 treatments for investigating hematological parameters, and those ducks were slaughtered for analysis of carcass characteristics and meat quality.
Results: Body weight differed significantly (p < 0.05) from the 3rd to 10th weeks, and at the 4th, 6th, 8th, and 10th weeks of age, there were significant (p < 0.01) differences in feed conversion ratio (FCR) and average daily gain (ADG) among the treatments. T3 (19.50%) showed the highest live weight, ADG, and better FCR among the treatments. Carcass traits such as carcass weight, breast meat weight, giblet weight, and head weight showed significantly better in Treatment T3. Meat quality analysis depicted significant differences (p < 0.05) in drip loss and cooking loss parameters only in the breast meat, while lightness attributes (L*) of meat color differed significantly (p < 0.05) for thigh muscles. Besides, among the investigated hematological parameters, only total erythrocyte count (TEC) varied significantly (p < 0.01).
Conclusions: This study confirmed a 19.50% dietary CP level for optimum growth, carcass yield, and meat quality that could be utilized in the rearing of BAU Black and White ducks.

Key words: Bangladesh; duck; meat; protein; ration