Effect of additional oxytetracycline on some Chinese ducks' productive qualities

Abstract

This study was conducted in a private field for duck breeding in Al-Muthanna Governorate from 12/14/2021 to 02/14/2022. The study included oxytetracycline's effect on some Chinese ducks' productive traits. 60 unsexed, one-day Chinese duck chicks were used, prepared from one of the hatcheries in Al-Qadisiyah Governorate. They were randomly distributed to 4 treatments, including 3 replicates for each (5 chicks for each replicate). The treatments were as follows: T1: control treatment. T2, T3 and T4 were added to 0.125, 0.250 and 0.375 mg oxytetracycline/ kg diet. The results indicated that using oxytetracycline significantly improved some productive traits of Chinese ducks, body weight, weight gain, feed intake and feed conversion factor. Added the antibiotic to feed at a concentration of 0.375 mg per kg of feed gave the best results significantly compared to the rest of the treatments. Keywords: Oxytetracycline, productive traits, Chinese ducks.