|
MEKARN Conference 2010 |
Sixty crossbred Muscovy ducks (10 days old) were used in an on-farm research in Binhhoa commune, Chauthanh district, An Giang province. The experiment wasa Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with three treatments and 4 replications, to determine performance of the ducks and evaluate the economic benefit obtained when earthworms were used as supplement to a basal diet of rice bran. The treatments were rice bran ad- libitum and 50g fresh duckweed per duck per day (control treatment); EW: basal diet was the same as control treatment but with earthworms supplying extra crude protein (10% on DM basis) and FM: same as EW but earthworms were replaced by fish meal. Fresh duckweed was use to supply vitamins and minerals.The earthworms were fed in fresh form.
Growth rates (average daily gain) were lowest in ducks fed the control diet (24.4 g/day). There were no differences between the EW and FM diets (range from 35.4 and 38.7 g/day). Feed intake for dry matter and crude protein showed the same tendency as growth rates.For smallholder farmers in the Mekong Delta, using earthworms as feed supplement for Muscovy ducks could give economic benefits as they can completely replace fish meal.