Effects of succinate on growth performance, serum biochemistry and meat quality in Pekin ducks

This experiment investigated the effects of succinate supplementation on growth performance, serum biochemistry and meat quality in Pekin ducks. A total of 1152 1–d-old female Pekin ducks (50.9 ± 0.2 g) were randomly allocated into 3 treatments with 8 replicates per treatment and 48 birds per replicate based on body weight (BW) over 6 weeks. Dietary treatments included a corn-soybean meal-based diet supplemented with 0, 0.2 and 0.4% succinate. The inclusion of succinate increased (p < 0.05) final BW, body weight gain (BWG) during 22–42 days and 1–42 days as well as European production efficiency factor linearly, while reduced (p < 0.05) feed-to-gain ratio (F/G) and caloric conversion during 22–42 days as well as F/G during 1–42 days. The supplementation of succinate increased (p < 0.05) the activities of superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase, catalase and total antioxidative capacity in the serum linearly. The administration of succinate increased (p < 0.05) the serum glucose linearly, but reduced (p < 0.05) total cholesterol, total triglyceride, total bile acids and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol linearly. The relative weight of breast meat was increased (p < 0.05) linearly, while the relative weight of subcutaneous fat and abdominal fat were decreased (p < 0.05) linearly with the increase in the supplementation levels of succinate. These results suggested that inclusion of 0.2-0.4% succinate improved BWG and final BW, reduced F/G and partially improved antioxidant activities, lipid metabolism and meat quality in Pekin ducks.