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Studies of Reproduction in Ducks
PROTEIN EVALUATION BY PANCREATIN DIGESTION
REFERENCES Anwar, A., 1960. A new method for calculating the gross value of proteins. Poultry Sci. 39: 1406-1408. Anwar, A., 1961. A simplified technique for the determination of gross protein value. Poultry Sci. 40: 1014-1015. Anwar, A., 1962. Estimation of gross protein
value. 2. In proteins of plant origin. Poultry Sci. 4 1 : 1023-1026. Hankes, L. V., W. H. Riesen, L. M. Henderson and C. A. Elvehjem, 1948. Liberation of amino acids from raw and heated casein by acid and enzyme hydrolysis. J. Biol. Chem. 176: 467476. Ingram, G. R., W. H. Riesen, W. W. Cravens and C. A. Elvehjem, 1949. Evaluating soyabean oil meal protein for chick growth by enzymatic release of amino acids. Poultry Sci. 28: 898902. Ingram, G. R., W. W. Cravens and C. A. Elvehjem, 1950. Evaluating cottonseed meal protein for chick growth by enzymatic release of amino acids. Poultry Sci. 29: 590-594. Melnick, D., B. L. Oser and S. Weiss, 1946. Rate of enzymic digestion of proteins as a factor in nutrition. Science, 103.: 326-329. Riesen, W. H., D. R. Clandinin, C. A. Elvehjem and W. W. Cravens, 1947. Liberation of essential amino acids from raw, properly heated and over heated soybean oil meal. J. Biol. Chem. 167: 143-150. Van Slyke, D. D., R. T. Dillon, D. A. McFadyen and P. Hamilton, 1941. Gasometric determination of carboxyl groups in free amino acids. J. Biol. Chem. 141: 627-669.
Studies of Reproduction in Ducks 1. THE DURATION OF FERTILITY AND HATCHABILITY OF WHITE PEKIN DUCK EGGS WILLIAM J. ASH Department of Poultry Husbandry,1 Cornell University, Ithaca, New York (Received for publication November 23, 1961)
T
HE DURATION of fertility in domestic birds of the order Galliformes has been the subject of much experimentation, but relatively few studies are known for those of the order Anseriformes. Using the latter the maximum duration following artificial insemination was found to be 16 days in Pilgrim geese (Johnson, 1954) and 14 days in Embden geese (Kinney and 'Long Island Duck Research Laboratory, Eastport, New York.
Burger, 1960). A maximum duration of fertility of 13 days was recorded in the Philippines by Fronda et al. (1940) for native ducks and by Tolentino (1948) for Muscovies. Elder and Weller (1954) obtained fertile eggs from wild Mallards 17 days after isolation of females. Watanabe and Sugimori (1957), using artificial insemination, found a maximum duration of 12 days in the Japanese Osaka duck. Subsequently Watanabe (1959), again using artificial insemi-
Downloaded from http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/ at University of British Columbia on June 23, 2015
both animal and plant origin. Gross protein value, carried out by the simplified technique, was taken as a reference of nutritive value. It was hoped to find out how close estimate of gross protein value could be obtained from the percentage of alphaamino nitrogen released with pancreatin digestion. In general, the method could be applied, to a fair degree of accuracy, to both cottonseed and groundnut meals. For meat meals the method could still be reliable, but for fish meals, it seemed that their response to pancreatin digestion did not reveal differences that would account for their nutritive value.
1123
W. J.
1124
5
DAYS
6
7
AFTER
8
9
10
ISOLATION
FIG. 1. Duration of fertility and hatchability of White Pekin duck eggs. Hatchability is expressed as percentage of fertile eggs.
nation, found the statistic to be 7 days for Osaka females receiving semen from either Osaka or Muscovy drakes. Landau and Vancikova (1959) obtained a maximum duration of 15 days using White Pekins. Since the White Pekin is used almost exclusively in the market-duck industry of North America it seems desirable to study the duration of fertility in this breed under conditions of management adaptable to commercial breeding practices. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE
One drake and eight ducks, randomly selected at seven months of age, were placed in each of 3 and 4 pens in December of 1959 and 1960 respectively. Fertility was established quickly and in February when it was high (90 percent or greater) the drakes were removed from the breeding pens. At that time the hen-day production was excellent, ranging from 80.5 to 95.6 percent for the 7 breeding pens during the following two weeks. A daily average of 20.7 and 25.0 eggs were set in 1960 and 1961 respectively.
Starting on the 2nd day (3rd day in 1961), after removal of the sires, eggs were marked with date and saved for setting at weekly intervals. Fertility was determined by candling at 7 days (infertiles verified by breaking eggs) while actual hatchability was recorded for the four pens used in 1961. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION High fertility was maintained within pens until the 4th or 5th day. Thereafter fertility declined quite uniformly although not necessarily from one day to the next. Figure 1 illustrates the trends in the two years. Fertile eggs were never obtained on or after the 13th day of isolation. The range in maximum duration of fertility for both trials was from 10 to 13 days. Some disagreement exists between this finding and that of Landau and Vancikova (1959). Figure 1 also shows the hatchability of fertile eggs set in 1961. After the 8th day hatchability is somewhat misleading, because it is based on too few fertile eggs (less than 10 per day). The overall hatch-
Downloaded from http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/ at University of British Columbia on June 23, 2015
4
ASH
1125
REPRODUCTION IN DUCKS
proven drakes were to be multiplied by large numbers of females. The commercial pratice of using 1 drake to every 5 or 6 females in breeding pens is questioned. Present data indicate that good reproduction can be obtained when using 1 drake to every 8 females. If highly fertile and aggressive drakes were used, it is conceivable that fewer drakes would be needed to sire the 10,000,000 market ducklings raised annually in North America. This would represent rather large savings in feed costs alone. SUMMARY
The duration of fertility and hatchability of eggs produced by White Pekin ducks after isolation from their mates has been investigated. A high level of fertility was maintained to the 4th or 5th day, after which it receded fairly uniformly to zero by the 10th to 13 th day. No fertile eggs were obtained on or after the 13th day. The hatchability of fertile eggs gathered the first week was 75.8 percent, compared to 60.5 percent during the second week. The practical importance of these findings is discussed. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Appreciation is extended to Dr. R. K. Cole for suggestions regarding the manuscript. REFERENCES Elder, W. H., and M. W. Weller, 1954. Duration of fertility in the domestic Mallard hen after isolation from the drake. J. Wildlife Management, 18: 495-502. Fronda, F. M., L. P. Zialcita and A. M. Dalisay, 1940. The fertility of the duck egg. Philipp. Agric. 29: 111-123. Hutt, F. B., and R. K. Cole, 1955. Multiple shifts for testing cockerels. Poultry Sci. 34: 271-283. Johnson, A. S., 1954. Artificial insemination and the duration of fertility of geese. Poultry Sci. 33: 638-640. Kinney, T., and R. E. Burger, 1960. A technique
Downloaded from http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/ at University of British Columbia on June 23, 2015
ability of fertile eggs gathered during the first week of isolation was 75.8 percent as compared to 60.5 percent for the second week. These figures are very close to those presented for wild Mallards by Elder and Weller (1954). The more realistic picture for the practical breeder is found in hatchability of total eggs set. It declined from 66.7 percent on day 3 to less than 50 percent on day 8 and to less than 20 percent on day 9. However, embryos were capable of hatching from eggs laid 12 days after isolation. Thus it appears, from what is presently known of the White Pekin duck, that if a commercial breeder wanted to be absolutely certain of the paternity of ducklings when using a program of multiple shifts of drakes, he would have to wait a period of 5 days after removal of the first drake before introducing the second one into the breeding pen. Eggs from days 7 through 12 would then be discarded. If the duck breeder is willing to accept slightly poorer reproduction for a few days after the removal of the first drake, a system of multiple shifting of sires similar to that advocated for the fowl by Hutt and Cole (1955) is therefore available to him. These workers have shown that it is possible and with but little error in pedigrees, to credit fertile eggs to the replacing sire only 12 days after the removal of the replaced one. Hatching eggs are discarded for only 5 or 6 days. In the fowl fertility may persist for 20 days or more. The relatively short duration of fertility in White Pekins poses somewhat of a restriction on the extensive use of artificial insemination by the duck industry. Insemination would have to be done a minimum of once every 6 or 7 days using semen from superior drakes if a satisfactory level of fertility was to be maintained. However artificial insemination could prove to be very practical if desirable genes from
1126
W. J.
for the insemination of geese. Poultry Sci. 39: 230-232. Landau, L., and R. J. Vancikova, 1959. Fertility of eggs produced by ducks after removal of drakes. Pol'nohospodarstvo, 6: 755-764. Tolentino, L. J., 1948. The fertility of Muscovy duck eggs. Philipp. Agric. 3 1 : 212-215.
ASH Watanabe, M., and Y. Sugimori, 1957. Studies on the artificial insemination in ducks. Zootec. e Vet. 3: 119-124. Watanabe, M., 1959. Partial infertility of intergeneric hybrid eggs between the Muscovy drake and the common duck. J. Fac. Fish. Anim. Hus. Hiroshima, 2: 37^-S85.
ALLAN K. KONDO3 AND ERNEST ROSS University of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii (Received for publication November 27, 1961)
I
T IS KNOWN that certain minerals in cane molasses are responsible for some of the changes in the water metabolism of chicks. Bice and Dean (1939) and Rosenberg and Palafox (1956) reported that potassium which is present in a relatively high concentration in cane final molasses is the primary cause of a laxative effect. Rosenberg (1954) suggested deionization of molasses as a possible means for reducing this high concentration of potassium in cane molasses. In addition to potassium, the effect of sugar in the diet has been studied in relation to water consumption and moisture content of the droppings. Rosenberg and Palafox (1956) concluded that sugar in feed had little effect on fecal moisture. Jacobs and Scott (1957), however, showed that the liquid intake of 6-week-old chicks was increased significantly when sucrose was added to water, indicating that sugar may also play a role in water metabolism. Although it would seem that increased 1 Published with the approval of the Director of the Hawaii Agricultural Experiment Station as Technical Paper No. 555. 2 This paper is a portion of the senior author's M.S. Thesis, Univ. of Hawii, 1960. 3 Present Address: Hilo Hawaii.
water consumption would result in increased moisture content of the droppings, this is not always true. James and Wheeler (1949) reported that the moisture content of the droppings did not vary with the protein content of the feed, while water consumption did. This investigation was undertaken to further study the factor(s) in cane molasses which may affect water metabolism in the chick, and to compare the diuretic effect of deionized and regular cane molasses. EXPERIMENTAL
Experiment 1. This experiment was conducted to study the effects of feeding partially deionized molasses and different salts of potassium and magnesium on fecal moisture. Cane final molasses and partially deionized cane final molasses were fed at 5, 10, 15, 20, and 30 percent levels to groups of 10 straight-run, day-old New Hampshire chicks for 6 weeks. In addition, the salts, KCl, K 2 C0 3 , MgO, and MgS0 4 , were fed at levels calculated to be equivalent to the amounts of these salts present in 30 percent of molasses.4 In the work reported by 4
The potassium a n d ' sugar analyses of the molasses used in both experiments were performed by the Hawaiian Sugar Planters Association, Honolulu, Hawaii.
Downloaded from http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/ at University of British Columbia on June 23, 2015
The Effect of Some Constituents in Molasses on the Water Metabolism of Chicks1-2
REFERENCES Anwar, A., 1960. A new method for calculating the gross value of proteins. Poultry Sci. 39: 1406-1408. Anwar, A., 1961. A simplified technique for the determination of gross protein value. Poultry Sci. 40: 1014-1015. Anwar, A., 1962. Estimation of gross protein
value. 2. In proteins of plant origin. Poultry Sci. 4 1 : 1023-1026. Hankes, L. V., W. H. Riesen, L. M. Henderson and C. A. Elvehjem, 1948. Liberation of amino acids from raw and heated casein by acid and enzyme hydrolysis. J. Biol. Chem. 176: 467476. Ingram, G. R., W. H. Riesen, W. W. Cravens and C. A. Elvehjem, 1949. Evaluating soyabean oil meal protein for chick growth by enzymatic release of amino acids. Poultry Sci. 28: 898902. Ingram, G. R., W. W. Cravens and C. A. Elvehjem, 1950. Evaluating cottonseed meal protein for chick growth by enzymatic release of amino acids. Poultry Sci. 29: 590-594. Melnick, D., B. L. Oser and S. Weiss, 1946. Rate of enzymic digestion of proteins as a factor in nutrition. Science, 103.: 326-329. Riesen, W. H., D. R. Clandinin, C. A. Elvehjem and W. W. Cravens, 1947. Liberation of essential amino acids from raw, properly heated and over heated soybean oil meal. J. Biol. Chem. 167: 143-150. Van Slyke, D. D., R. T. Dillon, D. A. McFadyen and P. Hamilton, 1941. Gasometric determination of carboxyl groups in free amino acids. J. Biol. Chem. 141: 627-669.
Studies of Reproduction in Ducks 1. THE DURATION OF FERTILITY AND HATCHABILITY OF WHITE PEKIN DUCK EGGS WILLIAM J. ASH Department of Poultry Husbandry,1 Cornell University, Ithaca, New York (Received for publication November 23, 1961)
T
HE DURATION of fertility in domestic birds of the order Galliformes has been the subject of much experimentation, but relatively few studies are known for those of the order Anseriformes. Using the latter the maximum duration following artificial insemination was found to be 16 days in Pilgrim geese (Johnson, 1954) and 14 days in Embden geese (Kinney and 'Long Island Duck Research Laboratory, Eastport, New York.
Burger, 1960). A maximum duration of fertility of 13 days was recorded in the Philippines by Fronda et al. (1940) for native ducks and by Tolentino (1948) for Muscovies. Elder and Weller (1954) obtained fertile eggs from wild Mallards 17 days after isolation of females. Watanabe and Sugimori (1957), using artificial insemination, found a maximum duration of 12 days in the Japanese Osaka duck. Subsequently Watanabe (1959), again using artificial insemi-
Downloaded from http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/ at University of British Columbia on June 23, 2015
both animal and plant origin. Gross protein value, carried out by the simplified technique, was taken as a reference of nutritive value. It was hoped to find out how close estimate of gross protein value could be obtained from the percentage of alphaamino nitrogen released with pancreatin digestion. In general, the method could be applied, to a fair degree of accuracy, to both cottonseed and groundnut meals. For meat meals the method could still be reliable, but for fish meals, it seemed that their response to pancreatin digestion did not reveal differences that would account for their nutritive value.
1123
W. J.
1124
5
DAYS
6
7
AFTER
8
9
10
ISOLATION
FIG. 1. Duration of fertility and hatchability of White Pekin duck eggs. Hatchability is expressed as percentage of fertile eggs.
nation, found the statistic to be 7 days for Osaka females receiving semen from either Osaka or Muscovy drakes. Landau and Vancikova (1959) obtained a maximum duration of 15 days using White Pekins. Since the White Pekin is used almost exclusively in the market-duck industry of North America it seems desirable to study the duration of fertility in this breed under conditions of management adaptable to commercial breeding practices. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE
One drake and eight ducks, randomly selected at seven months of age, were placed in each of 3 and 4 pens in December of 1959 and 1960 respectively. Fertility was established quickly and in February when it was high (90 percent or greater) the drakes were removed from the breeding pens. At that time the hen-day production was excellent, ranging from 80.5 to 95.6 percent for the 7 breeding pens during the following two weeks. A daily average of 20.7 and 25.0 eggs were set in 1960 and 1961 respectively.
Starting on the 2nd day (3rd day in 1961), after removal of the sires, eggs were marked with date and saved for setting at weekly intervals. Fertility was determined by candling at 7 days (infertiles verified by breaking eggs) while actual hatchability was recorded for the four pens used in 1961. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION High fertility was maintained within pens until the 4th or 5th day. Thereafter fertility declined quite uniformly although not necessarily from one day to the next. Figure 1 illustrates the trends in the two years. Fertile eggs were never obtained on or after the 13th day of isolation. The range in maximum duration of fertility for both trials was from 10 to 13 days. Some disagreement exists between this finding and that of Landau and Vancikova (1959). Figure 1 also shows the hatchability of fertile eggs set in 1961. After the 8th day hatchability is somewhat misleading, because it is based on too few fertile eggs (less than 10 per day). The overall hatch-
Downloaded from http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/ at University of British Columbia on June 23, 2015
4
ASH
1125
REPRODUCTION IN DUCKS
proven drakes were to be multiplied by large numbers of females. The commercial pratice of using 1 drake to every 5 or 6 females in breeding pens is questioned. Present data indicate that good reproduction can be obtained when using 1 drake to every 8 females. If highly fertile and aggressive drakes were used, it is conceivable that fewer drakes would be needed to sire the 10,000,000 market ducklings raised annually in North America. This would represent rather large savings in feed costs alone. SUMMARY
The duration of fertility and hatchability of eggs produced by White Pekin ducks after isolation from their mates has been investigated. A high level of fertility was maintained to the 4th or 5th day, after which it receded fairly uniformly to zero by the 10th to 13 th day. No fertile eggs were obtained on or after the 13th day. The hatchability of fertile eggs gathered the first week was 75.8 percent, compared to 60.5 percent during the second week. The practical importance of these findings is discussed. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Appreciation is extended to Dr. R. K. Cole for suggestions regarding the manuscript. REFERENCES Elder, W. H., and M. W. Weller, 1954. Duration of fertility in the domestic Mallard hen after isolation from the drake. J. Wildlife Management, 18: 495-502. Fronda, F. M., L. P. Zialcita and A. M. Dalisay, 1940. The fertility of the duck egg. Philipp. Agric. 29: 111-123. Hutt, F. B., and R. K. Cole, 1955. Multiple shifts for testing cockerels. Poultry Sci. 34: 271-283. Johnson, A. S., 1954. Artificial insemination and the duration of fertility of geese. Poultry Sci. 33: 638-640. Kinney, T., and R. E. Burger, 1960. A technique
Downloaded from http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/ at University of British Columbia on June 23, 2015
ability of fertile eggs gathered during the first week of isolation was 75.8 percent as compared to 60.5 percent for the second week. These figures are very close to those presented for wild Mallards by Elder and Weller (1954). The more realistic picture for the practical breeder is found in hatchability of total eggs set. It declined from 66.7 percent on day 3 to less than 50 percent on day 8 and to less than 20 percent on day 9. However, embryos were capable of hatching from eggs laid 12 days after isolation. Thus it appears, from what is presently known of the White Pekin duck, that if a commercial breeder wanted to be absolutely certain of the paternity of ducklings when using a program of multiple shifts of drakes, he would have to wait a period of 5 days after removal of the first drake before introducing the second one into the breeding pen. Eggs from days 7 through 12 would then be discarded. If the duck breeder is willing to accept slightly poorer reproduction for a few days after the removal of the first drake, a system of multiple shifting of sires similar to that advocated for the fowl by Hutt and Cole (1955) is therefore available to him. These workers have shown that it is possible and with but little error in pedigrees, to credit fertile eggs to the replacing sire only 12 days after the removal of the replaced one. Hatching eggs are discarded for only 5 or 6 days. In the fowl fertility may persist for 20 days or more. The relatively short duration of fertility in White Pekins poses somewhat of a restriction on the extensive use of artificial insemination by the duck industry. Insemination would have to be done a minimum of once every 6 or 7 days using semen from superior drakes if a satisfactory level of fertility was to be maintained. However artificial insemination could prove to be very practical if desirable genes from
1126
W. J.
for the insemination of geese. Poultry Sci. 39: 230-232. Landau, L., and R. J. Vancikova, 1959. Fertility of eggs produced by ducks after removal of drakes. Pol'nohospodarstvo, 6: 755-764. Tolentino, L. J., 1948. The fertility of Muscovy duck eggs. Philipp. Agric. 3 1 : 212-215.
ASH Watanabe, M., and Y. Sugimori, 1957. Studies on the artificial insemination in ducks. Zootec. e Vet. 3: 119-124. Watanabe, M., 1959. Partial infertility of intergeneric hybrid eggs between the Muscovy drake and the common duck. J. Fac. Fish. Anim. Hus. Hiroshima, 2: 37^-S85.
ALLAN K. KONDO3 AND ERNEST ROSS University of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii (Received for publication November 27, 1961)
I
T IS KNOWN that certain minerals in cane molasses are responsible for some of the changes in the water metabolism of chicks. Bice and Dean (1939) and Rosenberg and Palafox (1956) reported that potassium which is present in a relatively high concentration in cane final molasses is the primary cause of a laxative effect. Rosenberg (1954) suggested deionization of molasses as a possible means for reducing this high concentration of potassium in cane molasses. In addition to potassium, the effect of sugar in the diet has been studied in relation to water consumption and moisture content of the droppings. Rosenberg and Palafox (1956) concluded that sugar in feed had little effect on fecal moisture. Jacobs and Scott (1957), however, showed that the liquid intake of 6-week-old chicks was increased significantly when sucrose was added to water, indicating that sugar may also play a role in water metabolism. Although it would seem that increased 1 Published with the approval of the Director of the Hawaii Agricultural Experiment Station as Technical Paper No. 555. 2 This paper is a portion of the senior author's M.S. Thesis, Univ. of Hawii, 1960. 3 Present Address: Hilo Hawaii.
water consumption would result in increased moisture content of the droppings, this is not always true. James and Wheeler (1949) reported that the moisture content of the droppings did not vary with the protein content of the feed, while water consumption did. This investigation was undertaken to further study the factor(s) in cane molasses which may affect water metabolism in the chick, and to compare the diuretic effect of deionized and regular cane molasses. EXPERIMENTAL
Experiment 1. This experiment was conducted to study the effects of feeding partially deionized molasses and different salts of potassium and magnesium on fecal moisture. Cane final molasses and partially deionized cane final molasses were fed at 5, 10, 15, 20, and 30 percent levels to groups of 10 straight-run, day-old New Hampshire chicks for 6 weeks. In addition, the salts, KCl, K 2 C0 3 , MgO, and MgS0 4 , were fed at levels calculated to be equivalent to the amounts of these salts present in 30 percent of molasses.4 In the work reported by 4
The potassium a n d ' sugar analyses of the molasses used in both experiments were performed by the Hawaiian Sugar Planters Association, Honolulu, Hawaii.
Downloaded from http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/ at University of British Columbia on June 23, 2015
The Effect of Some Constituents in Molasses on the Water Metabolism of Chicks1-2