Introduction

Duck husbandry plays an important role in the socio-economic upliftment of the rural poor of Assam and others states located in the coastal regions of India. It is one of the most important domesticated species of poultry next to chicken primarily reared for table egg production in India. The peculiar agro-climatic condition with marshy and waterlogged areas prevailing throughout the state provides a very congenial environment for rearing ducks in Assam (Kalita et al., 2009; Deka et al., 2014). The Pati duck population constitutes a major indigenous non-descript duck variety in the state of Assam, India. The Annual egg production per duck (Pati) is 70-95 eggs, (Kalita et al., 2009). On the other hand, Chara-Chemballi duck is the combination of Chara and Chemballi but their production performance does not differ significantly. Annual egg production per duck (Chara-Chemballi) is 181.3 with an average egg weight of 71.6 ± 2.38 g at 72weeks of age under free range condition of Assam (Mahanta et al., 2009). Since there is very scanty literature on the detailed biochemical parameter of Pati duck being a local variety of Assam, and little information is available on Chara-Chemballi duck hence the present study was designed to establish biochemical norms of Pati and Chara-Chemballi ducks at 42 weeks of age.

Materials and Methods

In the present investigation, twelve each Pati and Chara-Chemballi ducks in their laying period (42 weeks age) were utilized. The ducks were procured from Pathsala, Barpeta district and SIRD (State Institute and Rural Development), Assam, India. Blood samples were collected from the wing veins (Fig.1) of each bird under aseptic condition by using 5ml syringes and transferred to 15 ml glass centrifuge tubes and to sterilized test tubes with anticoagulant sodium fluoride (10 mg/ml) and EDTA (1 ml/ml) for blood glucose and blood glucose was estimated immediately after collection of samples.

Fig. 1: Photograph Showing the Collection of Blood from the Wing Vein of Chara Chemballi Duck

The samples those were transferred to 15 ml glass centrifuged tubes allowed to clot in room temperature. Then the tubes were centrifuged at 3000 rpm for 15 minutes. After the serum was separated, it was kept in plastic vials and stored in deep freeze at -20^ºC for estimation of blood biochemical constituents such as glucose, total protein, calcium, ALT (Alanine transaminase) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) by the quality kit method (Reitman and Frankel, 1957 and Trinder, 1969) procured from Siemens Ltd., 589, Sayajpura, Ajwa Road, Vadodara-390019, India. The data were analyzed by t- test as per methods described by Snedecor and Cochran (1994) and were presented accordingly.

Result

The serum glucose, total protein, calcium, ALT and alkaline phosphatase level observed in Patiand Chara-Chemballi ducks at 42 weeks of age is presented in Table 1. The glucose level was significantly (P≤ 0.01) higher in Chara-Chemballi duck as compared to Pati ducks. The serum total protein level in the present investigation in Pati and Chara-Chemballi ducks did not differ significantly. The serum calcium level was found to be significantly (p≤ 0.05) higher in Pati as compared to Chara-Chemballi ducks. The serum ALT was found to be significantly (p≤ 0.01) higher in Chara-Chemballi as compared to Pati ducks. There was significantly (p≤ 0.01) higher serum alkaline phosphatase level in Chara-Chemballi as compared to Pati ducks.

Table 1: Blood Biochemical Constituents Level in Pati and Chara-Chemballi Ducks at 42 Weeks of Age

**Significant at 1% (P≤ 0.01), NS- Non significant, *Significant at 5 % (p≤ 0.05)

Discussion

The serum glucose level was found to be significantly higher in Chara-Chemballi duck than that of Pati duck (Table 1). The level of glucose reported in Pati duck of Assam was 110.21 ± 2.52 mg/100ml (Mahanta et al., 1994) where as the mean value of glucose in Chara and Chemballi duck during laying period was106.49 ± 2.21mg/100ml and 106.05± 2.46 mg/100ml respectively (Mahanta et al., 2009). The variations in the values recorded in the present study could be due to genetic makeup of the flock and also time of sampling (Pandian et al., 2012; Deka et al., 2014). The total protein of blood serum of both the genetic groups of ducks did not differ significantly (Table 1). The present value of total protein found in Pati duck was higher than the value reported by Mahanta et al., 1994. Whereas Okeudo et al. (2003) reported that the serum total protein value of the female adult duck of South-eastern Nigeria was 12.07 ± 1.59/100 ml. On the other hand, the serum total protein level found in Chara-Chemballi duck in the present study was lower than the value reported by Deka et al. (2014), which might be due to age, sex, diet and time of sampling (Gattani et al., 2016).

The serum calcium level in the present study was found to be significantly higher in Pati duck than that of Chara-Chemballi duck (Table 1). The corresponding value was comparatively lower than the value reported by Mahanta et al., 1994 in Pati duck, where as the values of calcium recorded by Mahanta et al., 1997 were in agreement with the present value of Chara-Chemballi duck. However, Okeudo et al., 2003 reported the lower serum serum calcium value of the female adult duck of South-eastern Nigeria. The variation between the values might be due to different genetic makeup (Pandian et al., 2012). The serum alanine aminotransferase level was found to be significantly higher in Chara-Chemballi duck than that of Pati duck (Table 1). Contrary to the present finding, Mahanta et al., 1994 reported the higher value of ALT in Pati duck of Assam as compared to high producing Khaki Campbell duck. The level of ALT reported in Pati duck of Assam was16.44 ± 1.42 µ moles/min/litter (Mahanta et al., 1994) whereas the mean value of ALT during laying period was 121.28 ± 4.97 Units/ml and 325.25 ± 10.81 Units/ml in Chara and Chemballi duck respectively as reported by Mahanta et al., 1997. This might be due to stress in liver during egg production and early sexual maturity in Chara-Chemballi duck (Deka et al.,2014).The serum ALP level in the present study was found to be significantly higher in Chara-Chemballi duck than that of Pati duck. Mahanta et al., 1997 reported that Chara-Chemballi was better egg producer (181.3egg per year) than Pati duck. This was similar to the findings of Kalita et al., 2009 who also recorded less egg production (70-95 egg per year) in Pati duck of Assam. The higher egg production in Chara-Chemballi duck might be due to the higher level of ALP and this finding corroborated the reports of Wilcox et al., 1963; Islam et al., 2010; Deka et al., 2014.

Conclusion

The present investigation revealed that the all the blood biochemical constituents except total protein differed significantly between both the genetic groups. The serum glucose, ALT and ALP level was found to be significantly higher in Chara-Chemballi duck than Pati duck. Moreover, the serum calcium level was significantly higher in Pati duck than Chara-Chemballi duck. The total protein did not differ significantly in both the varieties. The variation between the two genetic groups might be due to difference in breeds, hormonal and other nutritional aspects. It is concluded that significant differences in blood biochemical profile among the two genetically different ducks could be considered as a references values and this may serve as a guide to assess the state of health in the monitored birds as well as it might be helping the physiologist, pathologist and poultry scientists for preparation of effective production strategy.

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the Dean, Faculty of Veterinary Science, Assam Agricultural University, Khanapara for providing necessary laboratory facilities and financial assistances to carry out the research work smoothly.

References

1. Deka RJ, Zakir AMM and Kayastha RB. 2014. Improvement of rural livelihood through rearing of Chara-Chemballi ducks in Assam. World’s Poultry Sc. J., 70(2): 397- 404.
2. Gattani A, Pathak A, Kumar A, Mishra V, Bhatia JS. 2016. Influence of season and sex on hematobiochemical traits in adult turkeys under arid tropical environment. Vet World, 9(5): 530–534.
3. Islam M, Mahanta J D, Sapcota D. 2010. Effect of sex on certain blood biochemical parameters in Muscovy ducks. Indian Veterinary Journal, 87 (4): 413-414.
4. Kalita N, Barua N, Bhuyan J, Chidananda BL. 2009. Present status of duck farming in Assam. In: Proceeding of IV world waterfowl conference. Thrissur, Kerala: India, pp. 359-363.
5. Mahanta DJ, Deka RJ, Supcota D, Jalaludeen A. 2009. Certain performances traits of Chara-Chemballi ducks of Kerala under range condition in Assam. In: Proceeding of IV world waterfowl conference. Thrissur, Kerala: India, pp. 136-138.
6. Mahanta JD, Dutta DJ, Rahaman HA, Sarmah S. 1994. Certain Biochemical characteristics of blood serum of indigenous and Khaki Campbell ducks. Ind. J. Anim. Sci., 64: 283-284.
7. Mahanta JD, Jalaludeen A, Ponnuvel P. 1997. Biochemical characteristic of blood serum of native ducks of Kerala. Ind. J. Anim. Sci., 67: 693-694.
8. Okeudo NJ, Okoli IC, Igwe GOF. 2003. Hematological Characteristics of Ducks (Cairina moschata) of Southeastern Nigeria. Tropicultura, 21 (2): 61-65.
9. Pandian C, Thanga Pandiyan M, Sundaresan A, Omprakash AV. 2012. Haematological profile and erythrocyte indices in different breeds of Poultry. Int. J. Livestock Res., 2(3): 89-92.
10. Reitman S and Frankel S. 1957. Determination of serum glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase, pyruvic transaminase and calcium by colorimetric methods. American J. Clinical Pathol., 28: 56-63.
11. Snedecor GW and Cochran WG. 1994. Statistical Methods. 8^th ed. Iowa state Univ. Press, Ames, Iowas.
12. Trinder P. 1969. Determination of blood glucose using 4-amino phenazone as oxygen acceptor. J. Clinical Pathol., 22 (2): 246.
13. Wilcox FH, Vleck LD, Harvey WR. 1963. Estimates of Correlations between Serum Alkaline Phosphatase level and Productive Traits. Poultry Sci., pp. 1457-1458.