Effect of duck-rice-Azolla integration on growth performance and carcass quality of native Malawian Muscovy ducks

Pilirani Chisembe, Liveness J Banda and Jonathan Tanganyika

Animal Science Department, Bunda College Campus, Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (LUANAR), P O Box 219, Lilongwe. Malawi
piliranichisembe@gmail.com

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate the growth performance, carcass and meat quality characteristics of the Muscovy duck under two different scavengig systems; duck-rice (DR) and duck-rice-Azolla (DRA). Forty-eight ducks were allocated to the two feeding/management regimes. Supplementation was starter ration from 1 to 2 weeks old and finisher from 3 to 12 weeks old. From 4 weeks old, the birds scavenged in the rice paddies from 7:00 to 15:00h.

Ducks that scavenged on rice paddies containing Azolla had greater body weight gain, consumed less supplementary feed and had better feed conversion than ducks scavenging on rice paddies that did not contain Azolla. Carcass quality and meat color were not affected by the feeding-management system.

Keywords: integrated systems, scavenging, water plants

Introduction

Integrated duck-rice production is a low-cost and one of the organic farming methods that makes use of the mutually beneficial relation between rice and ducks to increase rice productivity. Ducks are allowed to forage in the paddy 20 days after rice transplanting until the flowering stage about 2 months later (Edan et al 2006). Inclusion of Azolla, a nitrogen-fixating and non-conventional nutrient source aquatic fern has been reported to increase production performance of ducks. The feeding value of Azolla has been demonstrated in different poultry species such as chicken, ducks, and quail with promising results in performance. Acharya et al (2015) reported that inclusion of Azolla at 5% or 10% level in the diet improved body weight gain and feed conversion ratio (FCR). Additional benefit of supplementing ducks with Azolla at different levels is that it reduces the cost of feed. Although integrated duck-rice farming has been practiced for generations in countries like Japan and other Asian countries (Cagauan et al 2004), it is not common in Malawi. Due to this, Malawi is failing to realise the benefits this integrated production can bring. A proper combination of duck, rice and Azolla improves the harvest of rice and production of ducks while minimizing inputs (Rutz 2008). The introduction of duck-rice-Azolla integrated feeding system can help in meeting the demand for animal protein consumption and minimize the inputs required in rice farming and also duck production and hence the current study.

Materials and methods

Experimental birds

Forty-eight, one-week old Muscovy ducklings were purchased from smallholder farmers and were transported to the Small Animal Unit Farm of the Animal Science Department, Bunda Campus, LUANAR, in Lilongwe where this study was conducted. The birds were brooded for a week during which period they were fed a starter diet with 20% CP. A 17% CP diet was provided from 2 weeks old until the end of the trialThe birds were given anti-stress packs upon arrival and vaccinated against Newcastle at 2 weeks using Lasota strain vaccine. At 3 and 4 weeks, the birds were vaccinated against gumboro (Infectious Bursal Disease [IBD]). The birds were then tagged and were allocated to the two experimental treatments; Duck-Rice (DR) and Duck-Rice-Azolla (DRA).

The ducks were introduced into the rice paddies 20 days after rice transplanting. They were 4 weeks old with an average weight of 0.31kg and were allowed to forage in the paddies for a period of 8 weeks from 7:00 to 15:00h. The stocking density was 8 ducklings per subplot of 19.6×4.6 m. They were vaccinated against Newcastle disease a second time at 5 weeks old.

Feeding

The duck-rice group foraged in rice-only plots; those on the DRA treatment had access to plots in which Azolla had been inoculated. After removal from the paddies, the ducks were given a ration (Tables 1 and 2) ad libitum as well as free access to drinking water.

Housing

The 48 ducklings were raised in a simple deep litter housing system which was constructed at the side of the rice field. The floor was littered with straw for bedding.

Body weight

The ducks were weighed in the morning before feeding at the beginning of the experiment and each week for a period of 8 weeks. Feed was given every morning after collecting feed residues from the previous day.

Slaughter procedure

At the end of the experiment, the ducks were not fed but were given water for 12h to reduce crop content and fecal contamination when eviscerating the carcass. They were then re-weighed the following day to obtain the slaughter live weight. The ducks were eviscerated and weighed to obtain dressed carcass weights. The head, liver, intestines, and the gizzards were weighed separately. The carcasses were then chilled at 4 ºC for 24h, after which they were separated into the thigh, wings, back, breast and neck.

Meat colour

The colour of each sample was determined using a Chroma meter CR-410 which was calibrated using a standard white paper before measuring each sample of breast meat. This was done at 45 minutes, and at 3, 6, 9 and 24h post-mortem. A 2×2 cm cut was made from the breast muscle ( pectoralis major) of each sample where the Chroma meter was used to capture the Commission Internationale de l’eclairage (CIE) colour descriptors [lightness (L*), redness (a*), and yellowness (b*)], respectively.

Statistical analysis

The data were subjected to analysis of variance procedure using GenStat.

Results and discussion

Ducks in the Azolla-rice system had greater weight gains than those scavenging in rice paddies without Azolla (Table 3; Figure 1). This is similar to the results of Acharya et al (2015) and Nghia (2015) who reported that ducks that have Azolla in their diet perform better than those that do not have access to Azolla.

Even though the intake of supplementary feed was lower in the duck-rice-Azolla system, the gain in weight was higher further contributing to the fact that the inclusion of Azolla to the diet of the birds is economically efficient in terms of the amount of supplementary feed supplied. This is in agreement with results of Becerra et al (1995) who reported an increase in daily gain of ducks with 15% replacement of soybean by Azolla. This is in line also with reports from Namra et al (2010), Seth et al (2013) and Rai et al (2012).

Figure 1. Changes in body weight of Muscovy ducks raised under duck-rice (DR) and duck-rice-Azolla (DRA) integrated feeding systems

Carcass characteristics

Ducks that scavenged in rice-Azolla paddies had higher weights of carcass and carcass components than those scavenging in rice paddies without Azolla (Table 4).

Meat colour

The meat colour characteristics were not affected by the feeding-management system (Table 5).

Conclusion

• Ducks that scavenged on rice paddies containing Azolla had better body weight gain, consumed less supplementary feed and had better feed conversion than ducks scavenging in rice paddies that did not contain Azolla.
  
  
• Carcass quality and meat color were not affected by the feeding-management system.

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Agricultural Productivity Program for Southern Africa (APPSA) for funding the Duck-Rice Project and all staff in Animal Science Department and Crops and Soil Sciences Department at LUANAR that contributed in one way or another in the implementation of the project.

References

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Received 4 March 2020; Accepted 3 June 2020; Published 1 July 2020

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