Study the effect of different levels of aqueous extract of licorice on the carcass traits of Chinese ducks

Abstract

This study was carried out at a private farm for duck breeding in Al-Muthanna Governorate, from 14/12/2021 to 14/2/2022. The field experiment was included to study the effect of adding aqueous extract of licorice to drinking water on the carcass trait from Chinese ducks. A total 60 unsexed, Chinese duck chicks one-day old were used, prepared from one of Al-Qadisiyah Governorate hatcheries, the chicks were distributed randomly to 4 treatments, included 3 replicates, (5 chicks each replicate), the treatments were as follows: T1: control treatment (without addition). T2, T3 and T4 treatments were 5, 10 and 15 ml aqueous extract of licorice /liter of drinking water, respectively. The results showed a significant improvement in all characteristics of the studied carcass (dressing percentage with and without geblet, the ratio of main and secondary cuts), when aqueous licorice extract is added to drinking water, in addition to the high level of water licorice extract (15 ml of licorice per liter of drinking water), which gave the best results and significantly.