Genetic parameters of carcass traits in ducks from a crossbred population

Abstract

The aim of this study was to estimate coefficients of heritability as well as genetic and phenotypic correlations among body weight and carcass traits. The dataset contained records of 387 birds from the second crossbred generation. The following traits were recorded: body weight (BW) at 11 weeks, carcass weight (CW), breast muscle weight including superficial and deep muscle (BMW), leg muscle weight including thigh and shank (LMW), wings weight (WW), skin with subcutaneous fat weight (SW), abdominal fat weight (AFW), skeleton with the back muscle and inedible elements (SBM), and liver weight (LW). Estimates of variance components were obtained by the average information -REML algorithm in the ASReml package. Very high slaughter yield (74.90%) was obtained. Generally, the coefficients of heritability were high. The highest one of 0.75 was estimated for body weight at 11 weeks. High coefficients of h 2 were estimated for breast muscle weight (0.69), wings weight (0.70), carcass weight (0.65), skin with subcutaneous fat weight (0.57) and skeleton with the back muscle (0.58), whereas h 2 of liver weight was 0.29. Both phenotypic and genetic relationships between the recorded traits were usually positive. Generally, it seems that the crossbreeding scheme can be perceived as a suitable proposal for the breeding practice.

Successful Identification of Duck Genome Region Determining Desirable Uniformity of Meat Performance Traits

“…The present study is a continuation of earlier works by Mucha et al (2014aMucha et al ( , 2014b and Moliński et al (2015) with the same experimental material. It should be mentioned that the parental lines A-55 (Pekin-type ducks of Polish origin) and GL-30 (Pekin-type ducks of French origin) are conventionally used in Poland for production of commercial hybrids (A-55 x F-11, A-55 x P-55, A-55 x P-44 and GL-50 x GL-30) intended for intensive rearing of meat ducks (Wencek et al, 2015).…”

“…The duck hybrids evaluated here were characterized by excellent meat performance traits (Mucha et al 2014a). The private sire alleles in three of the identified loci seem to be a promising element in further genetic improvement programs.…”

Yerleşim Sıklığının Pekin Ördeklerinin Gelişme Performansına Etkileri

“…The LW values achieved from the research were in line with the reported LW of some other researches (Leeson and Summer, 1982;Kinizetova et al, 1991), also found to be higher than LW reported by some researchers (Sainsbury, 1980;Isguzar, 2006;Ahaotu and Agbasu, 2015) and also lower than some others (Jones and Dawkins, 2010;Holderread, 2011;Mucha et al, 2014;Steczny et al, 2017).…”

“…It has been reported that with a 5.19 ducklings m -2 stocking density at 48 days of slaughter age, mortality (M) was found as 5.20 %, mean live weight (MLW) was found as 3.35 kg and live weight gain LWG was found as 60.3 -81.3 g day -1 and total live weight (TLW) was found as 17.2 kg m -2 (Jones and Dawkins, 2010). From the findings of another research it was told that with a SD of 6 ducklings m -2 and in a growing period of 4 to 11 weeks, final live weight (FLW) was reported to be 3 111 g (Mucha et al, 2014). In another research where a SD of 6.7 ducklings m -2 was used, the LW of 57.5 g increased up to 3 518 g in males and 3 433 g in females giving a mean of 3 476 g in 49 days achieving an FCR of 2.47, feed consumption of 8.24 kg and a LWG of 69.9 g day -1 (Steczny et al, 2017).…”

Smallholder Duck Farmers’ Breeding Practices and Trait Preferences in Nasarawa State, Nigeria

“…Duck parts are currently a growing poultry market segment because consumers are willing to pay more for fresh or frozen breast fillets and hind-or forequarter rather than buying cheaper whole carcasses. Raw meat preparations are generally bought by consumers based on overall appearance, with special consideration of colour and drip loss (Makała and Olkiewicz, 2004;Mucha et al, 2014;Moliński et al, 2015).…”