Thesis Abstract

<p>&nbsp;                      <b>ABSTRACT&nbsp;</b></p><p>The study was conducted to know the present status, existing production system of duck and assess the potentiality of duck rearing in rural areas of Mymensingh district in Bangladesh. Data were collected randomly from 50 duck rearing farmers using a pre-tested interview schedule during March to May 2010 from several villages under sadar upazilla of Mymensingh. The results reveal that most of the farmers (60%) were middle aged. About 32% farmers were illiterate. Most of the farmers (52%) reared deshi duck and duck population per household was 11.1. About 80% wife of farmer’s household were responsible for duck rearing. All farmers reared duck in semi scavenging system. About 36% farmers used wood and tin for construction of duck house and 94% farmers used bedding materials for their duck house. All farmers used rice in the diet for duck and 62% farmers accumulated rice and rice polish to make diet for their ducks. About 40% farmers provided on an average of 121.91g supplemental diet to each duck/day and cost of the diet was Tk. 0.85/duck/day. Most of the farmers (72%) provided diet to their ducks twice a day. The age and weight of duck at maturity were 183.6 days and 1.69 kg, respectively. Egg production/duck/year and weight of each egg were 117.5 no’s and 63.8g, respectively. All farmers incubated duck egg under broody hen and they got 85.83% hatchability on set eggs. Most of the farmers (52%) mentioned that most prevalent disease of duck was cholera and their duck mortality was 15.2%. About 52% farmers controlled their duck disease with medication and only 14% farmers used vaccine to prevent duck disease. About 22% and 13.5% people did not consume duck meat and egg, respectively because of odour, asthama and allergy. Most of the farmers (50%) incubating duck eggs for ducklings. About 66% farmers purchased duckling by Tk. 24-25 and 58% farmers sell adult duck by Tk. 175-190. Most of the farmers (81.25%) stated that the duck farming is decreasing day by day. About farmers (51%) stated that reason of decreasing duck farming was lack of scavenging area. It was concluded that duck rearing knowledge of the farmers such as breeding, feeding, housing, prevention and control of diseases are not satisfactory of this areas. Introducing of improved duck breeds/varieties, training to duck farmers, ensuring vaccination to ducks, financial and technical support to the farmers could increase the duck rearing with increased household income and employment to youth, rural women and the small-holder marginal farmers. Keywords present status; duck farming; semi-scavenging system; Mymensingh <br></p>

Thesis Overview

<p> <b>1. Introduction</b></p><p>&nbsp;Bangladesh is an agricultural country. Poultry plays a significant role in the subsistence economy of the country and contribute 1.6% in GDP (SAEDF, 2008). Among the poultry species, duck ranks 2nd just after chicken in producing poultry meat and eggs. DLS has given an estimation of duck population of 37.2, 38.70, 39.08 and 39.84 million for the year of 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008 respectively, while FAO given population of duck in 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008 as 20, 21, 22 and 23 million, respectively. At present, prices of meat and eggs are beyond the buying capacity of the poor people. Increased ducks egg and meat production can play a vital role in solving these problems. Duck keeping is one of the possible means of breaking out poverty trap of resourcepoor small holder families in low income countries (Pym et al., 2002). Ducks are considered to be the most important asset and source of income for ultra poor rural women. Small scale duck farming has not only been proved to be a beneficial occupation for small, marginal and landless farmers, but also a potential source of selfemployment for the youth and distress women (Jabber, 2004). There are many advantages of duck production and the duck can be considered as a good all purpose poultry species. Duck needs less care and management. Ducks can exploit natural water bodies; marshy lands, haors, rivers, ponds and cannels for their individual gain. About one-ninth of the total land of Bangladesh is low land which is very much suitable for duck rearing. It is easy to raise, need less space for rearing and require low inputs of feed, housing facilities and management. Ducks are hardy and can easily adapt to different climates and they are also relatively resistance to diseases (Holderread, 1990). Ducks are excellent foragers and if allowed to scavenge, can consume enough natural feed to cover most of their nutrient requirements. The scavenging venues of duck and chicken are different. So, they are not competitor of each other for scavengable feeds. Duck offers the opportunity for better utilization of water and aquatic resources to generate food and income for rural communities. Poor villagers can get maximum return by giving minimum supplemental diets to their ducks. The prospect of duck rearing in Mymensingh district of Bangladesh lies in the fact that there are large areas of low-lying water reservoirs where waters stand throughout the year. These water reservoirs contain weeds, fishes, snails, insects, fallen grains etc, which are the important feeds for ducks when reared under scavenging and semi scavenging systems. There is a great potentiality in improving the productivity of duck through better feeding and management. The problem and prospect of duck rearing has not been yet assessed and quantified. Very few research works had been done on the potentiality, productivity and profitability of duck rearing. To increase the productivity of duck, the present status, problems and prospects are needed to be assessed for economic rearing of duck in Bangladesh. Therefore, the present experiment was undertaken to know the present status and existing production system of duck and assess the problems and prospects of duck rearing in the rural reas of Mymensingh district.<br></p><p> <b>2. Materials and Methods</b></p><p>&nbsp;Several villages (Sohila, Bosra, Doribabakholi, Paglabazar, Mirzapur, Bagunbari, Char-nirikkha) under Sadar upazila of Mymensingh district and fifty farmers were selected from these villages purposefully and randomly. The selected farmers were considered on the basis of their traditional crop production combined with smallscale duck production system. The data were collected by interviewing with a fill up questionnaires on farmers knowledge regarding of duck rearing during March to May 2010. Some parameters like feed weight, egg weight and body weight were recorded directly by the researchers. Collected data were analyzed in accordance with the objectives of the study. Mean, standard deviation chi- test and percentage were used mainly to illustrate the results. <br></p>