BEHAVIORAL AND PHYSIOLOGICAL CHANGES OF PEKIN DUCKS AFTER TRANSPORTATION

Mousa-Balabel, T. M.; Mohamed, R. A.

doi:10.21608/kvmj.2011.113537

BEHAVIORAL AND PHYSIOLOGICAL CHANGES OF PEKIN DUCKS AFTER TRANSPORTATION

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Dept. of Hygiene and Preventive Med., Fac. of Vet. Med., Kafrelsheikh Univ., Kafr El-Sheikh, Egypt.

10.21608/kvmj.2011.113537

Abstract

Physiological and behavioral responses to transportation stress were examined on 210 pekin ducks with an average age of 4 months and the average body weight of 2.3 kg. Ducks were randomly assigned to 1 of the 7 treatment groups using a transportation distance as the main effect; unstressed control group, 50m transport inside the farm, 100m transport inside the farm, 50km transport outside the farm, 100km transport outside the farm, 100km transport outside the farm and put them in a dark room immediately after unloading for one hour, and 100km transport outside the farm after adding vitamin C in the drinking water before crating (loading). Results showed that, outside transportation stress-induced the following; behavioral changes (increased water intake and resting time while reduced feed intake and preening time) and physiological effect (high plasma CORT levels and low H/L ratios) changes. While inside transportation didn’t affect the ducks’ behavior and physiology. Mortality percent and tonic immobility (TI) duration were increased by increasing the transportation distance. Keeping ducks post-transportation in a dark place or adding vitamin C in the drinking water pre-transportation reduced the harm effect of transportation stress. The data indicated that pekin ducks had a low adaptive capability to transportation stress.

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