ECONOMICAL ANALYSES OF DUCK FARMING SUBMITTED TO DIFFERENT PHASE NUTRITION PLANS AND PEN DENSITIES

Abstract

Current study evaluates the economic viability of ducks fed on phase nutrition plans at different population densities. Two hundred and forty native dusks were used within a totally randomized design in a 3x2 factorial scheme, with three nutritional plans (3,4 and 5 phases) and two pen densities (2 and 3 fowls/m²), with four replications with 10 ducks each. Performance of ducks was evaluated weekly. After 90 days, four ducks from each treatment were slaughtered to analyze meat production. Data were analyzed by Tukey´s test at 5% significance. Significant differences (p<0.05) were observed for total feed consumption, feed conversion, feed costs and balance point between nutrition plans where, ducks fed at reduced phases (3 phases), had the best results. There were significant differences (p<0.05) between pen densities for consumption of total feed, weight at finish, feed costs, meat production (kg and kg/m²), production costs (kg and kg/m²) and equilibrium point, with the recommendation of 2 ducks/m² for the best results. Results show that confined ducks submitted to nutrition plans with reduced phases (3 phases) and pen densities of 2 ducks/m² provided the best performance, meat production and profitability. Further studies are required to determine other technical requirements for confined ducks.