The effects of post-hatch brooding temperature on the growth performance, meat quality and serum index of Pekin ducks

Pekin ducks are an important meat duck breed, and their growth performance and health status have a direct impact on the production efficiency of the meat industry. This experiment aimed to investigate the effects of post-hatch brooding temperature on the growth performance, meat quality, and serum indicators of Pekin ducks. A total of 144 one-day-old ducks with similar initial body weight were randomly divided into 4 groups: A, B, C and D, with 3 replicates per group and 12 ducks per replicate. The initial temperature in brooding stage was 35°C (1 to 3 d), and then the 4 treatment groups were respectively reduced to temperatures of 20°C, 23°C, 26°C and 29°C (4 to 21 d). Subsequently, the ducks in each group were transferred to a conventional house and continued to feed until 42 d. At 15 d, feed conversion ratio (FCR) in group D was significantly lower than that in other groups. At 18 d, the FCR of group C was significantly lower than that of groups A and B, and that of group D was significantly lower than that of other groups. At 21 d, ADFI in group D was significantly lower than that in group A and group B (P < 0.05). At 42 d, there were no significant differences in BW, ADG, ADFI and FCR among the four treatment groups. Similarly, there was no statistical significance in growth performance, body size, meat quality and antioxidants of ducks (P > 0.05). At 42 d, triglyceride (TG) of the group A was significantly lower than that of the group C (P < 0.05). Under the conditions of this experiment, the later growth of Pekin ducks partially alleviated the effects of different chick-rearing temperatures after hatching.