Document Type : Original Article
Authors
1
Agricultural Economics Department, Facculty of agriculture, Alazhar university, Egypt
2
Animal Production Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Al-Azhar University, Cairo.Egypt
Abstract
recently Egyptian poultry industry, especially broiler sector, has faced numerous problems and challenges; including inflation production costs, disease outbreaks and fluctuating market conditions, which significantly impacted small- and medium-scale producers. As a result, there is growing interest in identifying alternative poultry species that offer better economic resilience and sustainability. This study aims to evaluate the productivity and profitability of four commercial duck breeds.
The results indicated that growth performance, productive indexes, economic feasibility as well as annual economic feasibility were significantly (p<0.05) affected due to duckling's breed or broiler chicks during the overall experimental period. Up to the 6th week of age, compared different breeds of duck with broiler chicks as control, broiler chickens exhibited superior all duck breeds in terms of growth performance, feed conversion efficiency (FCR), and economic productivity indexes (EPEI, PI, and RPI). However, by the 10th week, regardless of broiler chickens, Muscovy and Mule duck breeds demonstrated significantly higher LBW, improved livability rates, better EPEI, PI, YUA and UP indexes and superior economic efficiency compared to Pekin and Shershery ducks. Notably, Muscovy ducks achieved the highest total revenue and net profit, followed by Mule ducks, while Shershery ducks recorded the lowest economic returns, making them the least viable option for commercial production.
Furthermore, the study highlights the essential role of agricultural cooperative associations in supporting poultry and duck producers through financial support, technical training and improved market access, thereby reducing reliance on broiler production and promoting sustainable poultry diversity. Finally, based on these findings,
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