Effects of biotin on growth performance and foot pad dermatitis of starter White Pekin ducklings

Abstract

1. An experiment with 9 dietary supplemental biotin concentrations (0, 0·03, 0·06, 0·09, 0·12, 0·15, 0·18, 0·21, 1·5 mg biotin/kg) was conducted to study the effects of supplementary dietary biotin on growth performance and foot pad dermatitis (FPD) of White Pekin ducklings from hatch to 21 d of age.

2. One-d-old male Pekin ducklings (n = 576) were randomly divided into 9 dietary treatments, each containing 8 replicate pens with 8 birds per pen. Final weight, feed intake and body weight gain increased with increasing dietary biotin levels from hatch to 21 d of age. No differences were observed in feed conversion ratio.

3. The supplemental biotin requirement of ducklings for optimal body weight gain was estimated to be 0.180 mg/kg.

4. At 28 d of age, dehydration, cracks, bleeding and scab, and ulceration were observed in biotin-deficient ducks. The external scores for FPD decreased from 17·50 to 1·00 with increasing dietary biotin. It was concluded that supplemental dietary biotin should not be less than 0·21 mg/kg to minimise the incidence of FPD.

Acknowledgments

The research was sponsored by the earmarked fund for China Agriculture Research System (CARS-43).