title: Effects of stocking density on growth performance, carcass traits, and foot pad lesions of White Pekin ducks.
abstract: Two experiments were conducted to study the effects of stocking density on growth performance, carcass yield, and foot pad lesions of White Pekin ducks from hatch to 14 d of age (experiment 1) and from 14 to 42 d of age (experiment 2), respectively. All ducks were reared in raised plastic wire-floor pens with a pen size of 30 m(2), and males and females were mixed at a ratio of 1:1 in each pen of both experiments. In experiment 1, a total of 10,200 ducks that were 1 d old were allotted to 20 pens according to the stocking densities of 13, 15, 17, 19, and 21 birds/m(2) (or 8.4, 9.7, 10.9, 11.9, and 13.0 kg of actually achieved BW/m(2)), respectively, with 4 replicates per treatment. In experiment 2, a total of 3,150 ducks that were 14 d old were allotted to 15 pens according to the stocking densities of 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 birds/m(2) (or 17.0, 20.3, 23.6, 26.9, and 29.9 kg of actually achieved BW/m(2)), respectively, with 3 replicates per treatment. The stocking density had significant effects on final BW and weight gain of starter and growing ducks (P < 0.05), but not on feed/gain and mortality in both periods (P > 0.05). The final BW and weight gain of starter and growing ducks all decreased with increasing density (P < 0.05). Final BW and weight gain of starter ducks were reduced significantly as stocking density increased from 17 to 21 birds/m(2) (P < 0.05). In addition, final BW and weight gain of growing ducks decreased significantly when stocking density was 9 birds/m(2) (P < 0.05). On the other hand, increasing stocking density did not markedly influence the carcass, breast meat, leg meat, abdominal fat, and foot pad lesions of growing ducks (P > 0.05).
authors.affiliation: Institute of Animal Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China 100193.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.affiliation: Institute of Animal Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China 100193.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: Institute of Animal Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China 100193.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.affiliation: Institute of Animal Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China 100193.
authors.forename: Z G
authors.initials: ZG
authors.lastname: Wen
authors.affiliation: Institute of Animal Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China 100193.
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Institute of Animal Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China 100193 houss@263.net.
authors.forename: S S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Hou
mesh_terms: D000822:Animal Husbandry / Q000379:methods*; D000818:Animals; D001823:Body Composition; D003872:Dermatitis / Q000662:veterinary*; D004372:Ducks / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005534:Foot Diseases / Q000662:veterinary*; D006799:Housing, Animal; D008297:Male; D008460:Meat / Q000032:analysis*; D011201:Poultry Diseases / Q000209:etiology* / Q000517:prevention & control
keywords: carcass yield; duck; foot pad lesion; growth performance; stocking density