Studies On The Production Performance Of Duck That Brown Rice From Aging Paddy Replace Corn Diet

Brown rice from aging paddy could not be used as food for human generally. Above 280 ten thousand ton aging paddy in China should be handled annually, and the reasonable utilization of aging paddy in the livestock had huge social and economy values. Therefore, the influences of brown rice from aging paddy used in diet as the energy feed on performance of ducks were studied in present experiment. 1200 Valley ducks at the age of 11 day with 346.83 ± 4. 83g body weight were chosen and divided into 4 groups averagely: control group, treatment 1, 2 and 3, with 300 birds in each group and 100 birds in each replication. The body weights of replications or treatments had no significant differences (P>0. 05). Different diets were formulated to feed the ducks in each group, and a corn-soybean meal basis diet (corn 60%) was fed the birds in control group. The corn in the basal diet were replaced by brown rice from aging paddy at different ratio as 40%, 70% and 100% in treatment 1, 2 and 3 respectively. The experiment was conducted in a phase of 19 days. When the ducks were 19-day-old, a metabolic experiment was conducted. 12 ducks in each group were selected to feed the diets containing 0.3% Cr₂O₃. After 3 days as the pre-phase, the feces were collected in following continuous 4 days.Results: Average daily gains of treatment 1, 2 and 3 were higher than that of the control group by 0. 20%, 2. 51% and 1. 28% respectively, and it was significantly higher in treatment 2 than in the control group (p<0.05). Feed-gain ratios of treatment 1, 2 and 3 were lower by 2.33%, 4. 52% and 5. 78% respectively than that of control group. The feed-gain ratio of treatment 3 differed significantly with that of the control group (p<0. 01). These results were showed that the performances of ducks were improved by using brown rice in the diet. Feed intake of treatment 3 was lower significantly than that of the control group (p<0. 05), which indicated the influence on feed intake of duck from replacing corn by brown rice in diet. Mortalities of each group were not different significantly (P>0. 05). Apparent metabolic rates of energy, dry matter, crude protein, organic matter, crude ash, calcium and phosphorus of treatment 3 were higher than those of the control group significantly (p<0. 01). Apparent metabolic rates of nutrients could be improved by using brown rice from aging paddy to replace corn inthe diet. It was observed in present experiment that the color (and luster) of duck feather, tibia, beak and the fat under the skin or around the stomach in treatment 1,2 and 3 were changed from yellow to white gradually and the bird body color in treatment3 was changed obviously. It was implicated that there were influences on the merchandise quantity from using the brown rice from aging paddy.The costs of meat in treatment 1, 2 and 3 were lower than that of the control group by 0. 19$/kg> 0. 35$/kg and 0. 47$/kg respectively. The lowest cost was found in treatment 3, which was lower by 13. 91% than that of the control group (p<0. 01) ? It was shown that the economic value was visible as the duck fed brown rice from aging paddy. The ratio between the performance/price rate of brown rice from aging paddy and that of corn was 1.14:1.It was implicated that performance, apparent metabolic rates of nutrients and economic value were better as brown rice from aging paddy were used to replace corn 100% in duck diet, but a certain influence of brown rice from aging paddy on duck merchandise quality was found. It is feasible that brown rice from aging paddy be used as the energy feed to replace corn in the diet for ducks.