Tropentag, October 7 - 9, 2008 in Hohenheim "Competition for Resources in a Changing World: New Drive for Rural Development"

Nutritive Value of Cashew Apple for Growing Duck

Graduate School, Royal University of Agriculture, Cambodia

Abstract

Cashew apple is a waste after collecting the nuts. The study was conducted to evaluate the feeding quality of cashew apple as feed ingredient for growing duct. 180 of one week old local ducks (Khaki Campbell) with average initial weight 114.93g were used. The ducks were divided into four dietary treatments and tree replication with 15 animals in each experimental unit. The four treatments were T0, T1, T2 and T3 that cashew apple meal incorporated into a standard grower diet at 0, 5, 10, and 15 percent for respectively. Cashew apple was dried under the sun before grinding and mixing with other ingredient. The experiment lasted for 60 days. Cashew apple contains crude protein 8.3% and crude fiber 4.45%. All dietary treatments contained 22% crude protein for first stage (0-6 weeks old) and 20% in the second stage (6-8 weeks old). There were no significance effect (P>0.05) on average daily gains (ADG), but it was relatively high for diet contained 5 and 15% cashew apple. The ADG were 14.87, 16.94, 14.86 and 15.52 g per head and day for T0, T1, T2 and T3 respectively. Daily feed intake was not significantly (P>0.05) affected by the treatment. However, feed conversion ratios (FCR) were significantly affected (P<0.05). The FCR were 5.95, 5.65, 4.74 and 5.07 respectively. Including cashew apple in the growing diet of duck until 15 percent improved FCR as well as weight gain. However, further study should be done to maximise the level of cashew apple meal for diet and study its effect on carcass characteristics.

Keywords: Cashew apple, duck

Contact Address: Mom Seng, Graudate School, Royal University of Agriculture, P.O.Box 2696, Phnom Penh, Cambodia, e-mail: mom_senghotmail.com