Developing a silicon T-shaped cannula to sample intestinal digesta in ducks

An experiment was conducted to develop and evaluate a T-shaped cannula for sampling intestinal digesta of ducks. Forty intestinal-cannulated drakes were selected to evaluate the survival rate for the cannulated ducks and body weight (BW) recovery after cannulation. After a recovery period of 30 days, 24 cannulated drakes and 24 intact drakes were selected by BW and divided into 8 replicates with 3 ducks per replication. The corn-soybean based diet 1 with a high metabolizable energy (ME) content and diet 2 with a low ME content were used to compare the digestible ability of cannulated drakes to intact drakes. Energy balance assays consisting of periods 1 (8 days), 2 (22 days) and 3 (22 days) were to determine the endogenous energy loss in 2 groups of ducks, and to determine the ME for the diets 1 and 2 with each using the same 2 groups of ducks, respectively. No significant difference was observed in the BW of the cannulated ducks on day 15 vs. day 0 after the surgical operation. The survival rate for the cannulated ducks was 75% on day 60 after the operation. In the energy balance assay, the BW loss of cannulated ducks was greater (P < 0.05) than that of intact ducks in the period 1, however, no significant difference of BW loss was observed between cannulated and intact ducks in the remaining 2 periods. Endogenous energy loss in the period 1, and the ME of diet 1 in the period 2 were not different between cannulated and intact ducks. However, in the period 3, less (P < 0.01) ME of diet 2 was observed in cannulated ducks than intact ducks. It indicated the cannulated ducks can be used for a period from 30 to 60 days after the cannulation.