Zhu Feng, Gao Yahui, Lin Fangbin, Hao Jinping, Yang Fangxi, Hou Zhuocheng
National Engineering Laboratory for Animal Breeding and MOA Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics and Breeding, Department of Animal Genetics and Breeding, China Agricultural University, Beijing, 100193 China.
Beijing Golden Star Duck Inc., Beijing, 100076 China.
J Anim Sci Biotechnol. 2017 Nov 1;8:81. doi: 10.1186/s40104-017-0212-2. eCollection 2017.
Feeding behavior study is important for animal husbandry and production. However, few studies were conducted on the feeding behavior and their relationship with feeding efficiency in Pekin ducks. In order to investigate the feeding behavior and their relationship with feed efficiency and other economic traits in Pekin ducks, we selected 358 male Pekin ducks and recorded feeding information between 3 to 6 wk of age using automatic electronic feeders, and compared the feeding behavior under different residual feed intake (RFI) levels.
We observed that total feed time, daily feed intake and feed intake per meal had strong positive correlations with feed efficiency traits; moreover, strong correlation between feed intake per meal and body weight was found (=0.32, 0.36). Daily feeding rate meal and meal duration had weak correlations with feed efficiency (=0.14~0.15). The phenotypic correlation of between-meal pauses, with feed efficiency was not observed. When daily changes were analyzed, high RFI ducks had the highest feed consumption over all times, and obvious differences in daily visits were found among different RFI level animals during the middle period; these differences were magnified with age, but there was no difference in daily meal number. Moreover, our data indicate that high RFI birds mainly take their meals at the edge of the population enclosure, where they are more susceptible to environmental interference.
Overall, this study suggests that the general feeding behaviors can be accurately measured using automatic electronic feeders and certain feeding behaviors in Pekin ducks are associated with improved feed efficiency.
采食行为研究对畜牧业和生产很重要。然而，针对北京鸭采食行为及其与采食效率关系的研究较少。为了研究北京鸭的采食行为及其与饲料效率和其他经济性状的关系，我们选取了358只雄性北京鸭，使用自动电子饲喂器记录其3至6周龄期间的采食信息，并比较不同剩余采食量（RFI）水平下的采食行为。
我们观察到总采食时间、日采食量和每餐采食量与饲料效率性状呈强正相关；此外，还发现每餐采食量与体重之间存在强相关性（=0.32，0.36）。日采食频率和采食持续时间与饲料效率的相关性较弱（=0.14~0.15）。未观察到餐间停顿与饲料效率之间的表型相关性。分析每日变化时，高RFI鸭在所有时间段的采食量最高，且在中期不同RFI水平的动物之间日采食次数存在明显差异；这些差异随年龄增长而扩大，但日采食餐数没有差异。此外，我们的数据表明，高RFI的鸭主要在群体围栏边缘采食，在那里它们更容易受到环境干扰。
总体而言，本研究表明使用自动电子饲喂器可以准确测量北京鸭的一般采食行为，且北京鸭的某些采食行为与提高饲料效率相关。
