Abstract:
Feed is the largest component of costs in the production of laying ducks.
Therefore, farmers seek to use the cheaper feed ingredients but can still meet
nutritional needs and maintain good production performance of Alabio laying
ducks. This study aims to determine the effect of the use of duckweeds in diets on
the production performance of alabio ducks including egg production, feed
consumption, feed conversion, income over feed-cost, egg weight, yolk-color, and
cholesterol levels in duck eggs. The study used a Completely Randomized Design
(CRD) method with four treatments and five replications, each of which consisted
of three Alabio laying ducks. The research treatments were P0 = 0% the use of
duck weed, P1 = 10% the use of duck weed, P2 = 20% the use of duck weed, and
P3 = 30% the use of duck weed for each of the diet treatment. The results showed
that the use of duck weeds (Lemna minor) up to 30% in diet had no effect on the
amount of egg production, percentage of egg production, feed conversion, egg
weight, and IOFC values. However, it affected the feed consumption, yolk color
and cholesterol content of Alabio duck eggs. The feed consumptions were not
different from the control diet until 20% use of duck weeds, but decreased at 30%
due to the increased of crude fiber feed. The yolk color scores increased and the
egg cholesterol content decreased with increasing use of duck weeds in diets.
Duck weed has a great opportunity to be used as a source of protein feed.
Keywords: Duckweed; Feed-diets; Laying alabio-ducks; Production performance
