Nutrient Digestibility of Palm Kernel Cake for Muscovy Ducks

Expeller pressed and solvent extracted palm kernel cake (PKC) were force-fed to male and female Muscovy ducks at 7 weeks of age. The nutrient digestibility, apparent metabolizable energy (AME), true metabolizable energy (TME) and true available amino acid (TAAA) digestibilities were determined. There was no significant (p>0.05) effect of the type of PKC used on crude protein (CP), ether extract (EE), metabolizable energy (ME) and amino acid (AA) digestibilities. However, digestibilities of dry matter (DM) and neutral detergent fibre (NDF) was found to be higher in solvent extracted compared to expeller pressed PKC. The average digestibility of DM, CP, NDF and EE were 43, 58, 39 and 89%, espectively. It was found that the ducks utilized about 47% of the gross energy of PKC. The respective average AMEn and TMEn values of PKC for Muscovy ducks was 1,743 and 1,874 kcal/kg. The overall TAAA of PKC for Muscovy ducks was 65%. The data on the TMEn and digestible AA for PKC obtained from this study provide new information with regard to diet formulation for Muscovy ducks.