Modern meat-type Pekin ducks require high lysine, methionine and cystine, threonine and tryptophan requirements to realise their full genetic potential especially for breast muscle development. By combining data from several experiments, meaningful amino acid profiles have been derived for starting and growing ducks. Over the last decade, the market for poultry meat has grown considerably, particularly for duck meat. From 1993 to 2001, world poultry meat production increased by 46 percent to 70.4 million tons a year. During the same period, duck meat production increased more by 77 percent and it now accounts for 4 percent of total poultry production. Eighty per cent of the ducks are produced in Asia followed by Europe with 14 percent. Apart from the Pekin duck, also the Muscovy duck is used for meat production but the latter plays a minor role on a worldwide scale.
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