EFFECT OF DIETARY SUPPLEMENTATION WITH Dunaliella salina ON EARLY GROWTH PERFORMANCE OF PEKIN DUCKLINGS

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Poultry Dept., Fac. of Agric., Zagazig Univ., 44511, Egypt

Abstract

We aimed in this trial to investigate whether different levels of Dunaliella salina can affect the early growth performance of Pekin duck during 0-2 weeks of age. A total number of 200 healthy one- day-old Pekin ducks were randomly distributed into 4 experimental groups. Each group contained 5 replicates with 10 birds each. The first group received the standard diet with no supplementation (control), while the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th groups received the standard diet supplemented with 0.5, 1.0, and 1.5 g D. salina per kg diet. The data revealed no significant effect of dietary supplementation of D. salina at different levels of live body weight at the first (P = 0.926) and second (P = 0.232) weeks of age. Body weight gain (BWG) was also insignificantly affected by dietary treatments during 0-1 (P = 0.701) and 0-2 (P = 0.076) weeks of age. On the other hand, during 1–2 weeks of age, ducks supplemented with 1.0 and 1.5 g D. salina /kg diet showed significantly (P = 0.018) higher BWG compared to the control group. Dietary supplementation with D. salina had no significant effect on feed intake (FI) during 0-1 (P = 0.196), 1-2 (P = 0.773), and 0-2 (P = 0.605) weeks of age. Also, the feed conversion ratio (FCR) was insignificantly affected by adding D. salina to duck’s diets at different levels during 0-1 (P = 0.147), 1-2 (P = 0.197), and 0-2 (P = 0.230) weeks of age. These findings suggest that higher inclusion levels of D. salina may enhance early growth performance during 0-2 weeks of age, while having minimal impact on overall FI and FCR during such period.

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Zagazig Journal of Agricultural Research
Volume 52, Issue 3
May and June 2025
Pages 593-601

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