Effect of Prebiotic on the Behavioural Patterns, Performance, Carcass Characteristics, Antibody Titer and Some Blood Parameters of Mule Ducks

Abstract

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of dietary supplementation of prebiotic on behavioural patterns performance and some blood parameters of ducks. A total of forty-eight 15 days-aged ducks (Mule) were randomly allotted to three dietary treatments containing 0 (Control), 1.5 g/ kg and 3.0 g/kg prebiotic, respectively. The results indicated that using prebiotic as a feed additive at a dose of 1.5 g/kg effect on duck movement activities as it increased walking and standing activities, while it reduced the resting behavioural activities. Further, regarding the ingestive behaviour, both 1.5 and 3.0 g/kg prebiotic addition increased the feeding activities, while, only adding 3.0 g/kg prebiotic increased the drinking activities in comparison to the control. Moreover, the result indicated that prebiotic did not affect preening activities. Moreover, the inclusion of prebiotic at 1.5 or 3.0 g/kg caused numerical improvement in all measured performance parameters (i.e. body weight, weight gain, feed consumption, feed conversion ratio, caloric conversion ratio, and performance index). The 3.0 g/kg level of prebiotic induced significant decreased in serum cholesterol and both 1.5 and 3.0 g/kg prebiotic increased the HI titer of Avian influenza vaccine. In conclusion, prebiotic supplementations up to 0.30 g/kg diet show a non-significant positive effect on duck growth performance. However, the behavioural and haematological responses of duck to prebiotic supplementation are needed to be carefully considered.