By-products and duckweed replace part of the basal diet for laying ducks in Vietnam

摘要

Up to 60 percent of the ducks' basal diet could be substituted with rice bran, tofu waste, duckweed and gapers. Although egg production was reduced at higher replacement rates, the results increased profitability. The native egg-type duck breed, Co,is very closely associated with the farmers in Vietnam and plays an important role in sustainable farming systems in combination with the farming of fish or rice. Co ducks forage in the fields, eating detritus, insects, snails, small fish, small shrimp and duckweed during rice growing and after harvest also on spilt rice. As a result, the farmers feed less rice to the ducks (around 40 kg/bird/year) than the 60 kg/bird/year that would be required with confined rearing.