Centennial Review: History and husbandry recommendations for raising Pekin ducks in research or commercial production

By some accounts, ducks were domesticated between 400 and 10,000 yr ago and have been a growing portion of the poultry industry for decades. Ducks specifically, and waterfowl in general, have unique health, housing, nutrition and welfare concerns compared to their galliform counterparts. Although there have been many research publications in regards to health, nutrition, behavior, and welfare of ducks there have been very few reviews to provide an overview of these numerous studies, and only one text has attempted to review all aspects of the duck industry, from breeders to meat ducks. This review covers incubation, hatching, housing, welfare, nutrition, and euthanasia and highlights the needs for additional research at all levels of duck production. The purpose of this review is to provide guidelines to raise and house ducks for research as specifically related to industry practices.

Effect of NTA and EDTA on calcium metabolism of chickens and Coturnix

Five experiments were conducted in which various levels of nitrilotriacetic acid (NTA or its salt, Na2NTA) disodium ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (Na2EDTA) and calcium (Ca) were fed to young chicks, young quail and adult quail. The duration of trials was from 1 to 28 days of age for chicks, 7 to 49 for young quail and 167 to 210 for adult quail. Feeding 0.71% NTA or an equimolar level of Na2NTA caused a moderate decrease in chicks weight and Na2EDTA caused a drastic decrease in body weight of chicks and adult quail. Feeding Na2EDTA caused greater mortality in chicks receiving a low Ca diet than a higher level of Ca. Plasma Ca levels were significantly increased by NTA in young quail and by Na2NTA in adult quail, in contrast, they were significantly decreased by Na2EDTA in adult quail. Dietary NTA promoted greater tibia mineralization (ash/dry matter) in growing chicks. Dietary NTA increased the deposition of zinc (Zn) and manganese (Mn) in the chicks tibia, but, it decreased magnesium (Mg). On the other hand, Na2EDTA caused a significant decrease in Zn and Fe in the chicks tibia and a significant increase in Mn. Coturnix are less sensitive than chickens in responding to dietary chelates.

Lack of effect of ascorbic and citric acids on calcium metabolism of chickens

Five experiments were carried out in which various levels of calcium and ascorbic acid or citric acid were fed to adult male chickens, young chickens, or young coturnix. Observations were made on body weight, feed efficiency, plasma calcium and tibia mineral content. One percent dietary ascorbic acid had no adverse effect on body weight, tibia ash or tibia calcium content of adult male chickens over a 224-day period, even at calcium levels as low as 0.026% of the diet. In growing chicks, body weight and plasma calcium and tibia mineral content varied with the calcium level of the diet, but were not influenced by ascorbic acid even at 0.65% of the diet. Citric acid at the same molar level was also ineffective in altering calcium metabolism in growing chickens. Growing coturnix showed differences in growth and tibia ash content with 0.4% and 0.85% calcium, but there were no pronounced effects caused by dietary ascorbic acid. There is no evidence in this work that these relatively high levels of ascorbic acid or citric acid have any adverse effect on calcium metabolism because of their chelating properties.