Influence of Swimming Deprivation on Behavior, Performance and some Blood Parameters of Muscovy Ducks

Abstract

This experiment was done to determine the effect of swimming deprivation on drinking behaviour, feather pecking behavior, feed consumption, weight gain, feed conversion ratio, live body weight, slaughter weight, carcass weight and dressing percentage, serum corticosterone, triiodothyronine (T3) and tetraiodothyronine (T4) of Muscovy ducks. Two groups were used; the first one is the control group fed on basal diet with free access to swimming pond, and the second fed on basal diet without access to swimming pond. The previous parameters were recorded daily or weekly during the experiment or after slaughtering for collecting blood parameters. The results explained that, there was an insignificant decrease in drinking behavior and significant increase in feather pecking. However, there was an insignificant decrease in feed consumption, live body weight, feed conversion, weight gain, dressing percentage, liver weight and serum corticosterone level. There was an insignificant decrease in T3 and T4 level and significant increase in feather pecking behaviour. It could be concluded that, swimming deprivation at the end of the fattening period of ducks had an adverse effect on some duck behaviors but it have no significant effect on improvement of performance parameters and carcass characters.