The following people were involved in the Livestock Programme:

Programme Leader	Mr. R.N. Cumberbatch
Programme Officers	Dr. R. Austin
	Mr. J. Solomon
	J. Gonsalves
	Mr. E. Seaforth

Project Title: A Comparison for Lightweight Gain and Carcass Production of Pekin, Kunshan and Muscovy Ducks on a Commercial Ration.

A study was done to compare the production parameters of three breeds of ducks, the Pekin, Kunshan and Muscoy on a commercial duck ration under local condition. Fifty ducklings representing each breed of which half were males and the other half were females were used in completely randomized design.

All birds were fed the same starter and grower ration during this study. The ducklings were weighed individually and body weight recorded on a weekly basis.

Based on overall breed comparisons at eight weeks of age, the mean body weights for both sexes were in the following order, with differences significant to all comparisons:

Pekin (2.517kg) > Kushan (2.311kg) > Muscovy (2.04kg).

The feed conversion ratios did not vary significantly (P < .0 between the Pekin and Kunshan with Muscovy ducks being more efficient in converting feed to lightweight gain.

The dressing percentages were similar for the Pekin and Kunshan breeds with the Muscovy being superior.

The results form this study indicated that breast meat yield on a percentage basis did not vary significantly between the Pekin (21.86%) and the Muscovy (21.92%). However, there were significant differences (P<.05) between these two and the Kushan ducks (18.4%). The birds that were more economical in terms of cost to produce 1kg lightweight and cost per unit gain were the Muscovy ducks, Pekin and Kushan, respectively.

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