Suitable habitat and environmental conditions for successful edible bird nest swiftlet houses

Abstract

Many entrepreneurs are very interested to start Edible Bird Nest (EBN) production. However, many of them lack knowledge in suitable habitat and environmental conditions for EBN swiftlets. They suffered losses because they are not concerned about providing the management of the suitable habitat and environmental conditions before building their EBN swiftlet house. This study aimed to identify and establish the list of habitat and environmental conditions for successful of edible bird nest swiftlet ranching. This study comprised of interview questions and field study. Questionnaires were distributed 100 players in EBN industry in Terengganu. For the field study, air and surface temperatures, relative humidity, light intensity, and sound level were recorded in nine EBN swiftlet houses in three different areas, the forested, the coastal and the town areas. From the questionnaires, we found that the most popular area (67%) to build EBN swiftlet houses was the forested area. This was followed by, the coastal area (26.7%) and town area (6.7%). Based on field study results, forested areas were the best and most productive to build EBN swiftlet house. The mean EBN and individual swiftlet population from the different areas were as follows: 78 nests and 263 individuals in forested, 51 nests and 133 individuals in the coastal and 25 nests and 65 individuals in the town area. From the environmental parameters collected it was shown that houses built in the forested area had the most suitable range for swiftlet adaptation. Air and surface temperatures were 31°C, relative humidity was 82%, light intensity 0.16LUX, sound level 50dB (internal) and 65dB (external). The results showed that EBN production was significantly higher in swiftlet houses with suitable habitat and environmental conditions. In the management of swiftlet houses, only suitable habitat and environmental conditions can be assured to be productive and profitable ranching venture swiflet.