INFLUENCE OF FEED AND WATER DEPRIVATION ON PROCESSING WEIGHTS AND YIELDS, COOKING LOSSES AND MEAT COMPOSITION OF DUCK CARCASSES AT 8 & 10 WEEKS OF AGE

SUMMARY The influence of depriving ducks offeed or both feed and water (total deprivation) for 0, 6, 12 and 18h prior to slaughter on live-weight shrinkage, eviscerated carcass yield, ready-to-cook yield, water uptake during chilling, cooked weight, cooking losses and meat composition was studied at 8 and 10 weeks of age. The performance of ducks after the 8-= week of age was also discussed. No significant differences were found among treaments at the two experimental ages for farm, slaughter, eviscerated and chilled weights, while they were significantly higher at 10 than 8 weeks of age. A gradual increase in live-weight shrinkage was observed as the period of deprivation increased at the two experimental ages, this shrinkage became higher at 10 weeks of age. The eviscerated yield and ready-to-cook yield were lower at O-h deprivation treatments either at 8 or 10 weeks of age but there was no significant difference between the two ages regarding eviscerated of ready-to-cook yields. Percentage of water uptake during chilling at the two ages increased gradually as the feed deprivation time increased. Ducks on total deprivation absorbed water in this manner until 18-h of deprivation, when there was a significant decrease in water uptake. The water uptake was significantly lower at 10 than 8 weeks of age. No significant differences were found among treatments for pre cook and cooked weights at 8 & 10 weeks of age but were significantly higher at 10 than 8 week of age. Cooking losses were differed significantly among treatments but not between the two ages. Meat analysis revealed no significant differences among treatments and ages moisture, protein and ash. Fat content differ significantly among treatments at 10 weeks of age and decreased with increasing deprivation time. The muscle content of fat was significantly higher at 10 than 8 weeks of age. The feed intake was high while feed conversion was extremely low, 9.2 & 9.9 during the 9-=week of age respectively.