Influence of production systems and sex on nutritional value and meat quality of native Malawian Muscovy ducks

This study was conducted to assess effects of production systems and sex on nutritional value and meat quality of native Malawian Muscovy ducks. One hundred twenty ducks were randomly assigned to either an intensive (IS), duck-rice integration (DR) or free-range (FR) production system. A starter ration containing 20% crude protein and a finisher containing 17% crude protein were fed to ducks in IS (1 to 4 weeks), and provided as a supplement to ducks in DR and FR (5 to 10 weeks). Feed and water were offered ad libitum. At 10 weeks of age, 16 ducks per treatment were selected randomly, slaughtered and chilled at 4 °C for 24 hours. Carcass temperature, pH and meat colour were measured at 45 min, and at 3, 6, 12 and 24 hours post mortem. Tenderness, cooking loss, proximate and mineral composition were determined 24 hours post mortem. Production system and sex had no effect on carcass temperature, pH and proximate composition of duck breast meat. However, production system affected tenderness and mineral composition of the meat and sex influenced moisture and tenderness. Males were moister and had less tender meat than females. Carcasses from ducks in the FR system contained more zinc, copper, manganese, and potassium, but less iron while those in IS had the lowest mineral content of the three production systems. Thus, DR can be adopted to improve the current FR system of native Malawian Muscovy duck production with supplementation to produce duck with acceptable mineral composition and better meat quality. Keywords: cooking loss, meat colour, mineral, proximate composition