A STUDY ON THE PROTEIN AND ENERGY REQUIREMENTS OF MUSCOVY DUCKLINGS

Two experiments were conducted with one-day-old straight run Muscovy ducklings to determine their protein and energy requirements. In the 1st experiment, isoenergetic diets (2800 kcal ME/kg) with three dietary proteins, 18, 20 and 22% in the starter period (1-28 days) and 16, 18 and 20% in the grower and finisher period (29-84 days) were used to determine the optimum protein requirement. While, in the 2nd experiment, isonitrogenous diets (20%, C.P.) with three dietary energy, 2700, 2800 and 2900 kcal ME/kg in the starter period (1-28 days) and (18% C.P.) with 2800, 2900 and 3000 kcal ME/kg in the grower-finisher period (29-84 days) were used to determine the optimum energy requirement. It was observed that 20% C.P. in the starter period and 18% C.P. in the grower and finisher period was adequate for optimum performance, while, 2900 kal ME/kg was sufficient to meet the optimum energy requirement in both the starter, grower-finisher period as regards body weight, feed efficiency, protein efficiency and caloric efficiency are concerned.