Effects Of Wet Mash Feeding From0To14D Post-hatch On Growth Performance, Foot Pad Dermatitis And Digestive Tract Development In Pekin Ducks

Wet mash feeding has been adopt under more and more farms because it hasbeen thought to reduce the stress reaction of weaned pig, but the research of wetmash is limited in ducks. This trial tried to discuss the adaptability for wet mashfeeding to waterfowl (Pekin ducks), which will provide a well-founded result thatcan help farmers to optimize the feeding mode of ducks.This present study allotted two hundred and fifty six day-old Cherry Valleyducks to one of four dietary treatments with4replicates (cages) per treatment and16ducks per replicate．The experiment lasted from two feeding phase of0-14d and15-42d. All ducks were provided water and feeds before12h post-hatch, and eachtreatment was given with dry pellet, dry mash,1:1.5(1.5parts of water to1part ofair-dry feed) wet mash and1:2.5(2.5parts of water to1part of air-dry feed) wetmash and drinking water four times daily, respectively.The amount of feed andwater given to each cage was a little feed left over between each providing. Wetmash was mixed dry mash with tap water before given to the birds without soaking.Then, all treatments were changed to feed with the same dry pellet.Remnant yolk sac weight, daily gain, food intake, absolute and relative weightof small intestine, absolute and relative length of small intestine, density of smallintestine, jejunum mucosa morphology, jejunum mucosa disaccharidase（sucraseand maltase） activity, score of foot pad dermatitis (FPD) were recorded．Theretention of dietary dry matter and D-xylose absorption from alimentary tract werealso determined．The behavior of feeding and drinking at d10post-hatch wasrecorded by digital video camera，and was used to determine the duration of mealand round trip from feeding and drinking trough in1second after lunch feeding. As compared with dry pellet, dry mash and1:2.5wet mash, the results showed that：(1)1:1.5wet mash increased average daily feed intake(ADFI) by10.24%、9.08%、5.64%respectively（P<0.001); increased average daily growth(ADG) by20.46%、36.33%、17.02%respectively （P<0.001); increased feed conversionratio(FCR) by10.34%、25%、10.34%respectively（P<0．001), from0to14but from15to42days of age（P>0.05）. However, the growth performance from0to42daysof age was improved（P<0.05).(2)1:1.5wet mash had the trend to promote the absorption speed of remnantyolk sac（P=0.183）.(3)1:1.5wet mash increased the absolute weight of duodenum at7d by22.00%、38.99%、17.54%respectively（P<0.05）; increased the absolute weight ofjejunum-ileum at3d by15.60%、35.59%、27.51%respectively（P<0.05）; increasedthe absolute length of duodenum at5d by2.95%、7.68%、7.19%respectively（P<0.05）; increased the absolute length of jejunum-ileum at3d by14.30%、16.48%、10.66%respectively（P<0.05）; increased the density of duodenum at7dby19.49%、28.67%、19.49%respectively（P<0.05）; increased the density ofjejunum-ileum at3d by1.09%、16.38%、15.23%respectively（P<0.05）.(4)1:1.5wet mash increased the jejunum mucosa villus height at7d by5.83%、9.50%、3.11%respectivel（yP<0.05）; decreased jejunum mucosa crypt depthby3.39%、9.79%、4.22%respectively（P<0.05）; increased the jejunum mucosasucrase activity at7d by7.10%、17.47%、8.51%respectively（P<0.05）; increasedthe jejunum mucosa maltase activity at7d by21.63%、26.28%、15.03%respectively（P<0.05）.(5)The retention of dietary dry matter at the period from d12to d14and the level of serum D-xylose at d15did not show the difference each other（P>0.05）.(6)At d10post-hatch, the duration of meal after lunch feeding was shortest in1:1.5wet mash, longest in dry mash among4treatmen（tP<0.05）, and round tripfrom feeding and drinking trough in1second was least in1:2.5wet mash, most indry mash（P<0.001）.(7)Pellet feed resulted in many and severe foot pad dermatitis（FPD）, a fewFPD occurred in dry mash group, few was in wet mash.Based on this study, it issuggested that1:1.5wet mash can increase feeding speed and feed intake, improvethe absorption of remnant yolk sac post-hatch, promote small intestine development,benefit jejunum mucosa morphology, advance jejunum mucosa disaccharidase（sucrase and maltase）activity, therefore, weight gain and/or feed efficiency wereenhanced from0to42d, as compared with dry pellet, dry mash and1:2.5wet mash.Moreover, the nutritional and physiological effects of1:1.5wet mash on Pekinducks were remarkable during the first week post-hatch. Moreover, it wassurprising that the footpad dermatitis of ducks fed wet mash was significantly lessthan the other feeding, which may be attributed to the biological characteristics“never feed dry food without water” of ducks or the behavior of feeding anddrinking. Dry feeding, especially feeding pellet, make ducks to take frequently thereturn trip from feeding and drinking trough，and water adhered on beak is prone todrop on the floor where duck stand on. This water wet the foot pad, and to make thefoot pad to be sensitive to pathogen. However, the mechanism that wet mashfeeding alleviates the FPD still must be study in coming future.