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Department
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1 Animal Drugs Inspection Branch, Animal Health Research Institute
Council of Agriculture, Executive Yuan
2 Animal Health Research Institute, Council of Agriculture, Executive Yuan
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Summary
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With a view of self-supply of fertilized Muscovy duck eggs for the production of duck live and/or inactivated parvovirus vaccines and for the need of Pasteurella anatipestifer vaccine development, this study was schemed to set up an animal house appropriate for raising Muscovy ducks of minimum disease-free. An old plain house, about 125 square meters, at the Animal Drug Inspection Branch Institute, Animal Health Research Institute, was restructured and remodeled into animal house with two closed rooms. The size of each animal room is about 50 square meters and is equipped a water cooling and light control system to lower room temperature during warm season and to control artificial lightening time as breeding duck needs by a micro-computer control system. The slotted surface flooring of animal rooms is the galvanized wire plates and wire’s diameter is 5.6mm. In December 2007, 89 Muscovy ducklings of the first herd were first introduced from the I-lan Branch Institute, Taiwan Livestock Research Institute into a quarantine room at the Branch Institute. The testing samples collected from the ducklings were sent for proving them free from duck parvovirus infection. Then the ducklings were moved into one of animal room. Duck care and management follows the common biosecurity measures. In general duck keepers bath and change clean clothes before entering. Feed is treated by radiation sterilization. This first herd started egg production during February, 2007, and totally produce 4009 of eggs at end of April, 2008. For setting up the second herd, fertilized eggs produced from the first herd were selected and each egg surface of the eggs was disinfected with iodine tincture and then used for hatching. Samples collected from the ducklings of the second herd were also sent to an animal disease center for disease monitoring and surveillance, and antibody tests against parvovirus, Newcastle disease, avian influenza, infectious bursa disease and avian reoviruses were proved all negative, and these results indicated Muscovy fertilized eggs produced by this establishment meet egg requirements for experimental use of this Institute. In addition, the shift of egg production period by light control is also shown by this study. The feasibility of egg production period shift is thought to be good for whole-year production of fertilized Muscovy duck eggs for experimental use. Based on this study, further researches will be focused on upgrading disease free status of the herd by more extensive disease monitoring and surveillance and therefore, more institutes could make more use of the benefits of these produced eggs in research and development of biology, biomedicine or animal medicine.
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