Abstract
An experiment was conducted to assess the optimum nutrient requirement and ideal mating ratios for Alabio ducks for production of fertile eggs and hatchability under rural feeding management. A total of 135 forty weeks old females and 27 males were used in the study. They were fed on low (17.5%), medium (19.5%) and high (21.5%) crude protein (CP) in diets containing approximately 3050 kcal of metabolizable energy (ME)/kg and maintained for 18 weeks in three mating ratios, each replicated three times. The ratios of natural mating were: 1:4, 1:5 and 1:6. A total of 450 selected hatching eggs per treatment were collected and stored for 4 to 6 days, then were incubated for hatching performance. Egg production (EP), feed conversion ratio (FCR) and egg weight (EW) were determined and it was found that feeding regimens influenced these parameters. Feeding 19.5% CP diet showed the highest values of egg production (EP), feed conversion ratio FCR, egg weight (EW) and egg mass production (EM) during 40 to 58 wks. The values of feed intake (FI), EP, FCR and EM were affected by sex ratios. The ratio of 1:4 was the best mating ratio for local ducks with higher productive performance. The 19.5% crude protein diet was adequate for hatching performance at sex ratio of 1:5.