Effect of feeding different levels of proteins on growth, blood biochemical and immunological parameters in laying Khaki Campbell ducks

A feeding experiment was carried out to study the effect of feeding different levels of protein during laying (20–40 weeks) on growth, feed consumption and mortality in Khaki Campbell ducks. 180 ducks were distributed randomly into three treatment groups viz. T1, T2 and T3 with three replicates of 20 ducks (15 females and 5 males) in each replicate. Birds were allotted to different groups in such a manner that there was no significant difference between the average 20th week body weight among the treatment groups. Between 20–40 weeks, ducks were provided with isocaloric diets with 16, 18 and 20 per cent crude protein in to groups T1, T2 and T3 respectively with ad lib provision of feed and water. Results indicated that supplementation of crude protein of about 18% in the ration during laying period might be sufficient with respect to growth trait in Khaki Campbell layer ducks. Further, the mortality ranged from 2 to 3.2% during laying stage, which was within normal range indicating that the different levels of protein supplementation in diet could not influence the health condition of ducks. The effect of different levels of protein supplementation in the diet during active stage of laying (30th week) was found to be non-significant, with respect to blood biochemicals like total protein, albumin, abumin: gobulin ratio, glucose, urea and creatinine concentration. The level of primary antibody in T1, T2 and T3 of female ducks were 6.00 ± 0.00, 5.33 ± 0.33 and 6.33 ± 0.33 and for combined sex they were 5.00 ± 0.52, 5.33 ± 0.33 and 5.67 ± 0.42, respectively.