Effects of Pantothenic Acid Supplementation on Growth Performance, Carcass Traits, Plasma Parameters of Starter White Pekin Ducks Fed a Corn–Soybean Meal Diet

SIMPLE SUMMARY: The yield of meat duck has increased over the past decade. Precise nutrition of ducks would contribute to improve growth performance and feed efficiency. As one of the important B-vitamins, pantothenic acid is essential for animals, and the deficiency of this vitamin could lead to growth depression, high mortality, and abnormal glucose metabolism. Similarly, pantothenic acid is also needed for ducks. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the effects of dietary pantothenic acid levels on growth performance, carcass traits, and plasma biochemical parameters of ducks, as well as the pantothenic acid requirement of ducks based on conventional corn–soybean meal diets. The results showed that among all ducks, the birds fed the basal diet without pantothenic acid supplementation had the lowest growth performance, breast meat yield, and plasma pantothenic acid and glucose contents. In addition, all these parameters increased linearly or quadratically as the dietary pantothenic acid level increased. The pantothenic acid requirements of starter male white Pekin ducks were 13.29–15.0 mg/kg. The data potentially provides theoretical support for the utilization of pantothenic acid in duck production. ABSTRACT: This study aimed to evaluate the effects of different dietary pantothenic acid levels on growth performance, carcass traits, and plasma biochemical parameters of starter Pekin ducks from 1 to 21 days of age, as well as the pantothenic acid requirement of starter ducks. A total of 384 one-day-old male white Pekin ducklings were assigned randomly into 6 dietary treatments, each with 8 replicate pens of 8 ducks. Ducks were fed conventional basal corn–soybean diets containing 8.5, 10.5, 12.5, 14.5, 16.5, and 18.5 mg/kg pantothenic acid for 21 days. Growth depression, poor pantothenic acid status, fasting hypoglycemia, and elevated plasma uric acid (UA) content were observed in the ducks fed the pantothenic acid-deficient basal diet (p < 0.05), and these adverse effects were ameliorated by pantothenic acid supplementation. Among all ducks, the birds fed the basal diet with no supplementation of pantothenic acid had the lowest body weight, average daily weight gain (ADG), average daily feed intake (ADFI), breast meat yield, and plasma pantothenic acid and glucose contents (p < 0.05), and the greatest plasma UA content (p < 0.05). In addition, all these parameters showed a linear or quadratic response as dietary pantothenic acid levels increased (p < 0.05). According to broken-line regression, the pantothenic acid requirements of starter male white Pekin ducks for body weight, ADG, and plasma pantothenic acid content were 13.36, 13.29, and 15.0 mg/kg, respectively. The data potentially provides theoretical support for the utilization of pantothenic acid in duck production.