Author : Pittor Hasudungan Hutabarat

Summary : Two independent experiments were conducted to evaluate the effects of breed, plane of nutrition and breed x plane of nutrition interactions on the performance of a meat-type Mallard Pekin (Anas platyrhynchos), Muscovy (Cairina moschata) and egg-type Mallard (Anas platyrynchos) under low and high planes of nutrition. Muscovy gave consistently higher body weight gain and carcass yield in both sexes than Pekin and Mallard at both planes of nutrition. Among the females, the gain in weight of Pekin was comparable to that of Muscovy under high plane of nutrition. During the brooding and growing periods, ducks fed high plane of nutrition gained more weight and had better feed efficiency. Significant breed x plane of nutrition interactions in body weight gain and feed efficiency of ducks were observed in both periods. Under high plane of nutrition, egg production during the first and until the third month was the highest in Mallard and the lowest in Muscovy. Pekin laid bigger eggs but consumed more feed than the Mallard. At both planes of nutrition, Muscovy consistently and significantly consumed feed least efficiently but laid eggs with the highest average weight. Significant (P<0.05) breed x plane of nutrition interaction in feed efficiency was observed in both growing and laying periods. This study tends to show that the comparative performance of the three breeds of ducks differed under high and low planes of nutrition during the growing and laying periods.