Growth Performance Of Pekin Ducks Research Articles

Multi-omic analysis reveals that Bacillus licheniformis enhances pekin ducks growth performance via lipid metabolism regulation.

Introduction: Bacillus licheniformis (B.licheniformis) was widely used in poultry feeds. However, it is still unclear about how B.licheniformis regulates the growth and development of Pekin ducks. Methods: The experiment was designed to clarify the effect and molecular mechanism of B. licheniformis on the lipid metabolism and developmental growth of Pekin ducks through multiomics analysis, including transcriptomic and metabolomic analyses. Results: The results showed that compared with the control group, the addition of 400 mg/kg B. licheniformis could significantly increase the body weight of Pekin ducks and the content of triglyceride (p < 0.05), at the same time, the addition of B. licheniformis could affect the lipid metabolism of liver in Pekin ducks, and the addition of 400 mg/kg B. licheniformis could significantly increase the content of lipoprotein lipase in liver of Pekin ducks. Transcriptomic analysis revealed that the addition of B. licheniformis primarily impacted fatty acid and glutathione, amino acid metabolism, fatty acid degradation, as well as biosynthesis and elongation of unsaturated fatty acids. Metabolomic analysis indicated that B. licheniformis primarily affected the regulation of glycerol phospholipids, fatty acids, and glycerol metabolites. Multiomics analysis demonstrated that the addition of B. licheniformis to the diet of Pekin ducks enhanced the regulation of enzymes involved in fat synthesis via the PPAR signaling pathway, actively participating in fat synthesis and fatty acid transport. Discussion: We found that B. licheniformis effectively influences fat content and lipid metabolism by modulating lipid metabolism-associated enzymes in the liver. Ultimately, this study contributes to our understanding of how B. licheniformis can improve the growth performance of Pekin ducks, particularly in terms of fat deposition, thereby providing a theoretical foundation for its practical application. Conclusion: B. licheniformis can increase the regulation of enzymes related to fat synthesis through PPAR signal pathway, and actively participate in liver fat synthesis and fatty acid transport, thus changing the lipid metabolism of Pekin ducks, mainly in the regulation of glycerol phospholipids, fatty acids and glycerol lipid metabolites.

Use of electrolyte and betaine water supplementation to support improved liveweight gain of commercial Pekin ducks exposed to adverse high temperature in the week prior to processing

Context Commercial Pekin Ducks housed in conventional open-sided sheds often experience heat stress in summer. Electrolyte or osmolyte supplements can help birds cope under heat stress. Aims To assess the effects of water electrolyte/betaine supplementation or betaine in feed on the growth performance of Pekin ducks exposed to high ambient temperature. Methods Commercial Cherry Valley Pekin ducks were fed diets with a dietary electrolyte balance (DEB) of 160 (L-DEB) or 209 (H-DEB) over Days 15–41 (D15–41) of age. Over D36–41, ducks were provided with water alone or supplemented with betaine in the feed (BF), or betaine and an ‘in-house’ electrolyte (E) formulation at 50%, 100% or 150% (D36–41) or at 100% for only 36 h on D40–41. There were 12 treatments with four replicate pens for each treatment. On D36–41 of age, temperature was increased to 28–32°C for 9 h (from 08:30 hours to 17:30 hours) and then returned to 22–24°C for the remainder of the day. Individual liveweights were taken on D28, D35, D41. During these times, feed intake and water consumption were determined. On D41, one male and one female from each pen were weighed, euthanised and breast muscle was removed and weighed. Birds were collected for commercial processing at 04:00 hours on D42. Key results Over D15–35, the DEB had no effect on bird performance. Over D36–41, for liveweight gain (LWG) there were significant interactions between treatment × week (P &lt; 0.001) and treatment × diet (P = 0.017). Supplements E150 and E100 + 36 h supported LWG more than did other treatments, while treatments BF, E50 and E100 supported higher LWG than in controls. On the L-DEB diet, the control birds had a LWG lower than in other treatments (P &lt; 0.05). On the H-DEB diet, the E50 supplement had highest LWG, but comparable to that in E100 + 36 h. The supplements had no effects on breast muscle yield, weight losses during transport and lairage or processed carcass weights. Conclusions The electrolyte supplements supported higher LWG during exposure to moderately adverse high temperature. Supply for 36 h supported LWG equivalent or better than did other treatments given over 6 days. The benefits could be related to increased water intake and not just electrolyte supply. Implications Water electrolyte plus betaine supplementation supports improved Pekin duck performance during a moderately high temperature challenge.

Effects of the Dietary Replacement of Soybean Oil with Rubber Seed Oil on the Growth Performance, Carcass Trait, and Status of Lipid Metabolism in Pekin Ducks

The objective of this study is to determine the effects of the dietary replacement of soybean oil (SO) with rubber seed oil (RSO) on the growth performance, carcass trait, and lipid metabolism in Pekin ducks. A total of 160 1-day-old Pekin ducks were randomly allocated to four experimental treatments and fed diets with different ratios of SO to RSO as follows: 3:0 (control), 2:1, 1:2, and 0:3. Dietary RSO supplementation had no effect on their growth performance; however, it significantly decreased the yield of abdominal fat (p &lt; 0.05). As the dietary RSO increased, the plasma TG, CHO, LDL-C, and HDL-C contents of ducks decreased (p &lt; 0.05). Additionally, the contents of total fat, triglycerides, and cholesterol in the liver and breast reduced in the ducks fed RSO diets (p &lt; 0.05). Liver n-3 PUFA levels linearly increased (p &lt; 0.05), while the n-6/n-3 PUFA ratios reduced with increasing RSO levels (p &lt; 0.05). Moreover, dietary RSO supplementation resulted in decreased gene expressions of FABP1, ME1, SREBP1c, FASN, DGAT2, and HMGCR (p &lt; 0.05), while there was an increased expression of the ABCA1 gene (p &lt; 0.05) in the liver of the ducks. In conclusion, dietary RSO supplementation reduced fat deposition and enhanced n-3 PUFA levels without affecting the growth performance of Pekin ducks.

Alleviation of Catching and Crating Stress by Dietary Supplementation of Bacillus subtilis in Pekin Ducks.

Catching and crating may elicit stress and fear reactions in poultry because the procedures involve human contact and exposure to a novel environment. This study determined the effects of dietary probiotic supplementation on physiological stress, underlying fear, and growth performance of Pekin ducks subjected to catching and 4 h of crating. The study used a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement; the main factors were diet (basal or basal + probiotic) and crating durations (0 or 4 h). From 1 to 21 days of age (doa), birds were fed a basal or basal + probiotic (CLOSTAT® (Bacillus subtilis) (Kemin Industries, Inc., Des Moines, IA, USA), 1 g/kg) diet. At 21 doa, an equal number of ducklings from each dietary group were caught and crated for 4 h or left undisturbed in the home pens. Birds were examined for serum corticosterone (CORT), heat shock protein (HSP) 70, creatine kinase (CK), triglyceride (TG), glucose (GLU), cholesterol (CHOL), and lactate (LAC) concentrations, heterophil to lymphocyte ratios (HLR), tonic immobility (TI) duration, open-field (OF) test, body weight (BW), and feed conversion ratios (FCR). Diet had no significant (p &gt; 0.05) effect on CORT among the non-crated ducks. However, after catching and crating, birds fed the control diet had significantly (p &lt; 0.05) higher CORT than their probiotic-supplemented counterparts. Catching and crating significantly (p &lt; 0.05) elevated HSP70, HLR, GLU, and CHOL but reduced TG in ducks. Birds fed the probiotic-supplemented diet showed significantly (p &lt; 0.05) lower HSP70, HLR, TG, and CK than those fed the control diet. Probiotic-supplemented ducks showed reduced fear-related behaviours, including TI durations, ambulation latency, and body shaking. Diet had a negligible effect on body weights and FCR of ducks at 21 doa. In brief, catching and crating for 4 h augmented Pekin ducks' physiological stress and fear reactions, and supplementing birds with probiotics was beneficial in ameliorating these detrimental effects.

Nutritional strategies to support performance of commercial Pekin ducks exposed to a high-temperature thermal challenge over 29–41 days of age

Context Commercial ducks often experience high temperature in summer and nutritional strategies could help them cope under these conditions. Aims To assess the effects of water and feed supplements on the growth performance of Pekin ducks exposed to high ambient temperature. Methods Commercial Pekin ducks were supplemented with betaine in feed, betaine or vitamin C in water or had feed withdrawn for 9 h/day or provided with water alone, during Weeks 5 and 6 of age. Water was supplemented with an ‘in house’ electrolyte formulation and betaine in Week 6, only. The treatments were applied to two strains, the Cherry Valley (CV) and a commercial line selected from the CV strain for higher breast muscle yield identified as CVP2. On Days 29–41 of age, shed temperature was increased to 30.5°C for 9 h (08:30–17:30) and then returned to 22.7°C for the remainder of the day. Individual liveweights of ducks were measured on Day 28, Day 35 and Day 41 of age. Feed intake and water consumption were measured over Days 14–28, Days 29–35, and Days 36–41. On Day 41, one male and one female from each pen, were weighed, euthanised and the total breast muscle was removed and weighed. Key results In Week 5, all supplements supported a higher LWG, although this was limited to 4.3–6.3%, with no effects on feed intake or feed to gain ratio. In Week 6, these same supplements provided no benefit and, in fact, vitamin C had a negative effect (−4.7%) on LWG. In Week 6, the electrolyte + betaine improved LWG by 17.1%, with no effects on feed intake or feed to gain ratio. The supplements had no effects on breast muscle weight or yields. The CVP2 selected line had a substantially higher LWG, with nearly all this being due to the 15.8% higher gain seen in males, as LWG of females was similar for both strains. Conclusions Using electrolytes as a nutritional intervention can help Pekin ducks cope with adverse high temperature and should be evaluated under more extreme high-temperature challenges. Implications Water electrolyte supplementation can support Pekin duck performance under high-temperature challenge.

Interactions of dietary protein and threonine on growth performance in Pekin ducklings from 1 to 14 days of age.

The present study was conducted to investigate the effects of dietary crude protein (CP) on threonine requirements by determining the interactions of dietary CP levels (16.0, 17.5, 19.0, 20.5, and 22.0%) and supplemental threonine levels (0, 0.07, 0.14, 0.21, and 0.28%) on growth performance of Pekin ducks from 1 to 14 days of age. A total of 1,200 one-day-old male Pekin ducks was randomly allotted to 1 of 25 dietary treatments with 6 replicate pens of 8 birds per pen for each treatment. The results showed that dietary CP and threonine levels affected the average daily feed intake (ADFI, P < 0.0001), average daily gain (ADG, P < 0.0001), ratio of feed/gain (F/G, P < 0.0001) of Pekin ducks, and had an interactions on the ADFI, ADG, F/G (P < 0.0001). The ADG was increased linearly (P < 0.002) and then reached a plateau as the dietary threonine increased at all CP diets. According to the estimation of broken-line models, the dietary threonine requirements at 16.0, 17.5, 19.0, 20.5, and 22.0% CP diets for optimal ADG of ducks were 0.56, 0.61, 0.60, 0.63, and 0.67% when expressed as percentage of diet, or 44.22, 47.65, 47.50, 48.30, and 50.39% when expressed as percentage of dietary lysine, or 3.45, 3.44, 3.12, 3.27, and 2.98% when expressed as percentage of dietary CP, respectively. Threonine requirements of Pekin ducks from 1 to 14 days of age were affected by dietary CP levels according to the Student t test results, but had no difference among the moderate CP level diets (17.5, 19, and 20.5%) when expressed as a percentage of diet or dietary lysine. It was concluded that dietary CP levels affected the threonine requirements of Pekin ducks from 1 to 14 days of age, but threonine requirements were constant within the limiting CP level range (17.5 to 20.5%) with a good balance of dietary amino acid, and were approximately 0.60 to 0.63% of diet or 47.5 to 48.3% of dietary lysine.

Dietary L-arginine supplement alleviates hepatic heat stress and improves feed conversion ratio of Pekin ducks exposed to high environmental temperature.

The current intensive indoor production system of commercial Pekin ducks never allows adequate water for swimming or wetting. Therefore, heat stress is a key factor affecting health and growth of ducks in the hot regions and season. Experiment 1 was conducted to study whether heat stress was deleterious to certain organs of ducks. Forty-one-day-old mixed-sex Pekin ducks were randomly allocated to four electrically heated battery brooders comprised of 10 ducks each. Ducks were suddenly exposed to 37 °C ambient temperature for 3 h and then slaughtered, in one brooder at 21 days and in another brooder at 49 days of age. The results showed that body weight and weight of immune organs, particularly liver markedly decreased in acute heat stress ducks compared with the control. Experiment 2 was carried out to investigate the influences of dietary L-arginine (Arg) supplement on weight and compositions of certain lymphoid organs, and growth performance in Pekin ducks, under daily cyclic hot temperature environment. A total of 151-day-old mixed-sex Pekin ducks were randomly divided into one negative control and two treatment groups, fed experimental diets supplemented with 0, 5, and 10 g L-Arginine (L-Arg)/kg to the basal diet respectively. Ducks were exposed to cyclic high temperature simulating natural summer season. The results showed that the addition of L-Arg improves feed conversion ratio (FCR) during a period of 7-week trial, as well as increases hepatic weight relative to body weight at 21 days, while decreases the hepatic water content at 49 days of age. This study indicated that the liver was more sensitive to acute heat stress, and the hepatic relative weight and chemical composition could be regulated by dietary L-Arg supplementation in Pekin ducks being reared at high ambient temperature. These beneficial effects of Arg on liver might be a cause of improved FCR.

Effect of in ovo Feeding of Butyric Acid on Hatching Traits, Small Intestinal Morphology, and Growth Performance of Pekin Ducks

Effect of in ovo Feeding of Butyric Acid on Hatching Traits, Small Intestinal Morphology, and Growth Performance of Pekin Ducks