Substitution of plant protein for fish meal in the diet oflaying ducks

Narin THONGWITTAYA

Faculty of Agricultural Production, Maejo University, Chiang Mai, Thailand

ABSTRACT

Fish meal is a good source of protein feed that can be used to get a high production yield even though it has a

comparatively higher price. Plant protein has been found to substitute for fish meal without any adverse effect on

production as well as helping to reduce feed cost. Moreover, it is not necessary for a level more than 5% fish meal in the

diet of laying ducks. One type of plant protein is soybean meal, considered one of the most valuable sources of vegetable

protein and whose amino acid composition is comparable to that of milk protein. In a soybean meal, the first limiting amino

acid is methionine. Soybean meal can substitute for fish meal in laying ducks’ diet but supplementation of methionine and

lysine is recommended. Since sesame meal is rich in methionine and agrinine, 50% of soybean meal can be replaced by

sesame meal without adverse effects. Leucaena leaf meal is also a valuable source of protein (26%) and carotenoids but

it also has a toxic amino acid (mimosine). However, soaking leucaena leaf meal in water can remove the toxic amino acid

and can be used, together with added methionine and lysine, as 10% of the diet for laying ducks.

Key words: fish meal, laying duck, leucaena leaf meal, sesame meal, soybean meal.

INTRODUCTION

Ducks were first domesticated in Asia but are nowdistributed all over the world with large variations intheir shape, size, feather color and markings due to thedomestication process which has generally caused mostdomesticated ducks to lose their ability to fly. Anotherconsequence of duck domestication is almost a com-plete elimination of brooding and nesting behavior inmost egg laying strains. Since brooding results in thecessation of laying, artificial pressure for the selection ofhigher egg producers is certainly against this trait.

Runner and Khaki Campbell duck breeds are classi-fied as egg laying breeds. Many of ducks belonging tothese breeds can lay more than 300 eggs a year and arevery keen in searching and devouring slugs andinsects, which they forage all day long. Normally,ducks lay eggs early in the morning during 04.00 and06.00 hours. The size of duck eggs is normally biggerthan that of chickens with an average weight of65–80 g whereas that of chickens is 45–60 g. Thealbumen and yolk ratio is somewhat different between

the two species; at 52.6:35.4 in duck eggs and55.8:31.9 in chicken eggs. The moisture content of theedible part is 70.4% in duck eggs and 73.7% inchicken eggs. This shows that duck eggs have morehighly concentrate nutrients than chicken eggs. Thenutrient contents on a dry matter basis of the ediblepart are 44.9 and 49.1% protein, 49.6 and 43.7% fat,2.4 and 3.4% carbohydrate, 3.7 and 3.8% ash and6.45 and 6.12 kcal GE/g in duck and chicken eggs,respectively (Singh 1981).

The main region of duck domestication is generallybelieved to be South-east Asia (Zeuner 1963). FAO(2001) reported that there were 887 million ducks inthe world in 2000, among which 782 millions (88%)were domesticated in Asia. It was reported that Chinais the biggest duck producing country in the world

Correspondence: Narin Thongwittaya, Graduate School,Maejo University, Sansai, Chiang Mai, 50290, Thailand.(Email: narin@mju.ac.th)Received 24 July 2006; accepted for publication 12 October2006.

with about 612 million ducks at present and followedby Europe, Africa, North and Central Americas andOceania, producing about 65, 17, 16, 7 and 1 millionducks, respectively.

ENERGY AND PROTEINREQUIREMENTS OF LAYING DUCK

Siregar and Farrell (1980) noted that the nutrientrequirements of ducks are generally based on that ofchickens but these two species are quite different intheir growth rate, body structure, digestive physiologyand basal heat production. Unlike chickens, the crop ofducks are not developed and the proventriculus is notfusiform but cylindrical in shape (Das et al. 1965). Thesize and peristalsis of intestines of duck and chickenare also different (Leeson et al. 1982). Pisharody andNair (1975) reported that the mucous membraneenzymes in the duck’s digestive tract showed higheractivity than those of chicken. In addition, the digest-ibility of crude protein (CP) and crude fat were higherbut that of crude fiber was lower in ducks whencompared with chickens (Mohamed et al. 1984). Thedigestibility and feed efficiency of chickens ceasedwhen diets at 160% of their voluntary intake wereforce fed (Teeter & Smith 1985). Ducks have beenobserved to utilize diets at 200–250% of their volun-tary intake because of enlarged crop and gizzard (Zhou& Isshiki 1994).

Reddy et al. (1980) reported the energy requirementof Khaki Campbell to be 2.80 Mcal of metabolizableenergy (ME)/kg diet while Pan et al. (1981) indicatedthat a ME of 2.6–2.8 Mcal/kg diet did not show anysignificant effect on the egg production of Tsaiya layingducks. The National Agricultural Council, Japan(1984) recommended a diet of 2.7 Mcal ME/kg with16% protein.

The protein requirement of laying birds is the sumfor their maintenance and egg formation (Bondi1987). Gonzalez (1981) reported that the egg produc-tion efficiency of Khaki Campbell was dependent onthe protein content in their diet. Pan et al. (1981)found that the egg production of Tsaiya layers given a19% protein diet was significantly higher than thosefed a 15% protein diet. Reddy et al. (1981) reportedthat the feed conversion of Khaki Campbell layers wasbetter under a 19% protein diet than under a 17%protein diet. Tan et al. (1988) reported that the dailyrequirement of CP for Putain laying ducks was16–18% while Thongwittaya and Tasaki (1992a) rec-ommended that the CP level for egg production in

crossbred laying ducks was 16.0%, and the ME/CPratio should be 170/1.

As protein sources, fish meal and soybean meal arethe most common ingredients while sesame meal andleucaena leaf meal are sources of vegetable protein. Onthe other hand, groundnut meal is not recommendedfor ducks due to its frequent infestation with aflatoxin,to which ducks are very sensitive.

UTILIZATION OF FISH MEAL

Fish meal is an excellent protein source for poultryfeeding since it contains adequate quantities of allessential amino acids required, particularly lysine andmethionine (Scott et al. 1982) and it is also a goodsource of unidentified factors (Bondi 1987). The Inter-national Fishmeal and Fish Oil Organisation (2006)reported that fish meal provides a concentrated sourceof high quality protein and a fat rich in long-chainomega-3 fatty acids, docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) andeicosapentaenoic acid (EPA). The benefits of feedingfish meal to layers include higher productivity, betterdisease resistance, the reduced use of coccidiostat, andimproved fertility and nutritional value of eggs forpeople due to the deposition of DHA and EPA. Wakel-ing et al. (1980) suggested that egg tainting was due tooverloading of hens with dietary trimethylamine.North (1978) concluded that oil from fish carried adefinite fishy taste and odor, which were noticeable inpoultry eggs when hens’ diet contained more than8–10% fish meal. Fish meal in the feed sometimesinduced gizzard erosion or ulceration in chickens(Janssen 1971). Similarly, Ito et al. (1985) reportedthat fish meal containing gizzerosine at more than20 mg/kg induced a severe gizzard erosion in chicks.The high cost of fish meal may also restrict its use(Rose & Michie 1984). Thongwittaya and Tasaki(1992b) concluded that it was not necessary toincrease the fish meal level for laying ducks was notnecessary to more than 5% (Table 1).

In Table 2, the chemical and essential amino acidcompositions of fish meal are indicated together withthose of soybean meal, sesame meal and leucaena leafmeal with and without soaking in water.

Utilization of soybean mealSoybean meal is a major protein component in live-stock feeds. Soybean meal has been estimated to makeup more than 90% of the oilseed meals consumedin poultry feeds (Wilcox 1987). The nitrogenous

constituents of the seed include some inhibitory andtoxic factors such as trypsin inhibitors which block theactivity of a digestive enzyme, trypsin. As this factor isdestroyed by heating, too high or too prolonged heatcould destroy essential amino acids. Raw soybean alsocontains urease, an enzyme that releases ammoniafrom urea. Properly produced soybean meal is an excel-lent feed for all classes of animal with no restraints on itsuse. Soybean meal extracted with trichloroethylene is,however, toxic to some animals and should not be usedfor feeding (Gohl 1981). Methionine is the first limitingamino acid of soybean meal when fed to poultry, hence,synthetic methionine is often added to their diet(Wilcox 1987). Yuan (1989) suggested that soybeanmeal supplemented with synthetic amino acids canreplace fish meal as a main protein source of the diet for

duckling and broilers production (Okan & Ogun 1988).Leeson et al. (1988) reported that diets containing 30%soybean meal of laying hens had no effect on theirperformance but there was an indication of reducedegg production. Vodolazhchenko & Vedyakina (1988)reported that replacing 70% of feed of animal originwith soybean meal supplemented with 25–50 mg/t ofvitamin B12 and 4 g/t of riboflavin increased egg pro-duction and egg hatchability and decreased the cost offeed. Thongwittaya (1996) concluded that laying duckscould produce eggs almost normally on a diet based onsoybean meal (21.0% diet) with no added fish meal,but supplements of small amounts of methionine andlysine would be recommended for higher egg produc-tion (Table 3).

Utilization of sesame mealSesame meal is frequently used as a principle proteinsource. The advantage of sesame meal as animal feed isits high methionine content while lysine seems to beits first limiting amino acid (Smith & Scott 1965).Lease (1972) reported that sesame meal containedphytic acid while Abrams (1966) demonstrated it con-tained a high oxalate content. Thus, the amount ofzinc and calcium supplements in the diet should beincreased, depending on the level of sesame meal. Itshould also be noted that sesame meal tends to

Table 1 Performance of laying ducks fed varying levels ofdietary fish meal from 18 to 36 weeks of age

Performance Fish meal level (%) SEM

5.0 6.5 8.0 9.5 11.0

Egg production (%) 37.6 39.7 36.7 36.9 38.7 3.1Egg weight (g) 57.7 58.1 56.6 57.3 57.2 0.7Feed intake (g/day) 145 144 146 143 137 3.5Feed conversion

ratio7.0 6.2 7.1 6.8 6.3 0.6

Table 2 Chemical and amino acid compositions of fish meal, soybean meal, sesame meal, leucaena leaf meal with andwithout soaking in water (% on air-dry basis)

Composition Fish meal† Soybean meal† Sesame meal† Leacaena leaf meal‡

Unsoaked Soaked

Dry matter 92.10 88.20 90.00 88.92 91.20Metabolizable energy

(Mcal/kg)2.82 2.23 2.21 0.53 2.32

Protein 60.05 44.00 41.00 24.19 27.17Fat 9.40 0.800 6.50 8.36 5.75Fiber 0.70 7.00 7.00 15.33 20.32Arginine 3.68 3.14 4.68 1.25 1.62Cystine 0.57 0.66 0.78 0.39 0.45Glycine 4.46 1.90 2.04 – –Histidine 1.42 1.17 0.99 0.35 0.39Isoleucine 2.23 1.96 1.51 1.91 0.97Leucine 4.16 3.39 2.68 1.41 1.90Lysine 4.51 2.69 0.91 1.03 1.22Methionine 1.63 0.62 1.22 0.29 0.38Phenylalanine 2.21 2.16 1.93 0.86 1.14Threonine 2.46 1.72 1.40 0.77 1.03Tryptophan 0.49 0.74 0.62 0.37 0.50Tyrosine 1.80 1.91 1.48 0.74 0.90Valine 2.77 2.07 1.91 0.79 1.12

†NRC (1994), ‡Sriwatanavorachai (1989).

become rancid if stored incorrectly (Gohl 1981). Inaddition, Hassan (1974) reported that even only 5%sesame meal in the diet may decrease egg production.Cheva-Isarakul and Tangtaweewipat (1993) reportedthat imported sesame meal could substitute for 50% ofsoybean meal in the diet of laying hens without anyadverse effects on egg production performance, whilelocal sesame meal showed an adverse effect, even at alevel of 15–20%. Thongwittaya (1996) reported thatabout 50% of soybean meal (10.50% diet) can bereplaced with sesame meal to equalize the productiveperformance of a soybean meal diet (Table 4).

Utilization of leucaena leaf mealLeucaena (Leucaena leucocephala) is a kind of legumi-nous tree that is commonly called ipil-ipil, koa haole,white popinac, lead tree, wild tamarind, cow tamarindor shack-shack. Its leaves and seeds contain mimosine, atoxic amino acid; however, the addition of iron saltsmay decrease its toxicity as well as soaking the leaves inwater. In addition, the leaves should not be fed tobreeding animals as they may affect reproduction.When included in poultry diets, production usuallydecreases and it takes longer for birds to reach sexualmaturity although a small inclusion (5%) of driedipil-ipil seems to increase the hatchability of eggs (Gohl1981). Schulke et al. (1982) reported that even afterleucaena leaf meal was soaked with water for 0, 6, 12,18 and 24 h, it still contained mimosine at 2.06, 1.06,0.73, 0.41 and 0.38%, respectively. Panja (1983) sub-jected fresh leucaena leaves to one of the following

procedures; sun-drying for 11 h, steam-boiling orimmersion in 0.2% ferrous sulfate solution for 1 h, andconcluded that each procedure was significantly effec-tive in reducing the mimosine content, particularly theimmersion in ferrous sulfate, which was found to bemost effective and with a reduction rate of up to 90%,while the other methods showed a 40–32% reductionrate. Sriwatanavorachai (1989) reported that soakingleucaena leaves in water decreased their mimosinecontent from 3.089 to 0.068%, while Chacon et al.(1988) suggested that leucaena leaf meal should not beused in poultry diets at higher levels than 5% becauseof its toxicity. Thongwittaya (1996) concluded thatincluding 10% soaked and unsoaked leucaena leafmeal without fish meal showed an adverse effect on theperformance of laying ducks. Supplements of methion-ine and lysine would be effective in order to improvethe performance of laying ducks when 10% of leucaenaleaf meal was used in the diet. However, the leaf mealmust be soaked with water before formulation and theinclusion level of the leucaena leaf meal should not behigher than 10%.

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Table 3 Effect of replacing fish meal with soybean meal on the performance of laying ducks

Performance Fish meal : soybean meal ratio SEM

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Egg production (%) 60.6 59.6 57.6 54.4 58.7 58.1 55.3 3.3Egg weight (g) 66.3 65.8 66.0 66.9 65.8 66.4 65.4 0.8Feed intake (g/day) 249 234 246 222 246 249 228 13.0Feed conversion ratio 6.2 5.9 6.5 6.1 6.4 6.5 6.3 0.2

Table 4 Effect of mixing ratio of soybean meal and sesame meal on performance of laying ducks

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