Judul: Determinant factors of the products of velvet antlers of rusa timorensis (De Blainville 1822) in natural habitat and captivity
Abstrak: The male Timor deer with their productive potentials have the characteristics of producing high quality of velvet antlers that can be harvested without killing which may be used as nutraceutical substances. The product criteria are based on the weight and length, and the quality is based on the contents of Ca, P, and amino acids. The two criterions may be influenced by places, internal and external physical conditions such as habitats and feed types. Therefore, the study was aiming at (1) Studying the spatial pattern or preferential habitat of Timor deer in Peucang island Ujung Kulon National Park (2) Identifying the preferential feed types and obtaining the correlation between feed nutrient contents and quality of velvet antlers produced in Ujung Kulon National Park. (3) Identifying the determinant factors of Timor deer that can produce high quality products of velvet antlers. (4) Formulating management strategies in exploiting the velvet antler of Timor deer as the main product of deer in the wild and captivity area. The first phase of the study was conducted at Ujung Kulon National Park (Peucang and Handeuleum Islands). The research on the island was divided into two sessions i.e. in the first session, observations on the distribution patterns, vegetation composition and habitat preferences of deer in Peucang Island were carried out. Inventory of deer used the method of concentration count census was conducted from afternoon to evening, and the distribution pattern used the chi-square test. The variables of the characteristics of habitat preferences include latitude, slope, temperature, humidity, soil pH, soil salinity, and distances from shore, from the pasture, from the pool and from the patrol path. The geographical position of deer was uploaded in the database file (*. dbf) to ArcGIS 9.3. The determinant factors of the presence of deer were analyzed using a stepwise multiple regression with the IBM SPSS statistics 20. In the second session of observations, the feed preferences of male deer were observed by pair method and feed samples of the plants most frequently consumed were taken for proximate analysis and their nutritional content analysis. Sample collection was carried out by giving the deer total anesthesia using a combination of Xylazine hydrochloride of 0.01 ml/kg body weight and ketamine of 0.05 ml/kg body weight. The collection of the velvet antlers was conducted when they were at the age of 55, 60 and 65 days. The second phase of the study was conducted in captivity to obtain a picture of the level of feed preferences and feed intake in relation to the products and quality of velvet antlers. The experiment used 5 male deer at their velvet antler phases of 3, 6, and 9 years old. The feed presentation technique was with cafeteria, feed preferences were assessed by scores, data collection including Fresh Material Consumption (FMC) and Dry Material Consumption (DMC), nutrients, macro and micro minerals of the feed were carried out. The collection of velvet antlers was conducted giving the deer local anesthesia using Lignocain HCL of 2% with a dose of each pedicle as much as 4 ml injected in three parts. Morphometry
Keyword: Rusa timorensis, velvet antler, determinant factors