Inheritance of duration of fertility in female common ducks (Anas platyrhynchos) inseminated in pure breeding or in inter-generic crossbreeding with Muscovy drakes (Cairina moschata)

Abstract

<jats:p>Ducks (common, Muscovy and mule ducks) are the third most important bird species in animal production for human consumption worldwide. Our study aimed to improve the efficiency of mule duck breeding, thus contributing to the efficiency of food production in general. In the common duck, females can be bred either with males of the same species (i.e. in pure breeding (PB) subscript p) or in inter-generic crossbreeding (CB; subscript c) with Muscovy drakes to produce the hybrid mule duck. The aim of the present study was to estimate the genetic parameters of several indicators of duration of fertility, considered to be a trait of the female duck, within and between breeding schemes and, in particular, to estimate the purebred–crossbred genetic correlation (<jats:italic>rg</jats:italic><jats:sub>pc</jats:sub>). These indicators were maximum duration of fertility (<jats:italic>MD</jats:italic>), that is, the time interval between insemination and the last fertilised egg, the number of fertile eggs (<jats:italic>F</jats:italic>) and of hatched ducklings (<jats:italic>H</jats:italic>) after a single artificial insemination (AI), and the fertility rate over days 2 to 12 after AI (<jats:italic>F</jats:italic><jats:sub>2,12</jats:sub>), taking three sub-periods (<jats:italic>F</jats:italic><jats:sub>2,4</jats:sub>,<jats:italic>F</jats:italic><jats:sub>5,8</jats:sub>,<jats:italic>F</jats:italic><jats:sub>9,12</jats:sub>) into account. A total of 494 females and 2655 inseminations were involved. PB resulted in longer duration of fertility (<jats:italic>MD</jats:italic><jats:sub>p</jats:sub>= 8.1<jats:italic>v.</jats:italic><jats:italic>MD</jats:italic><jats:sub>c</jats:sub>= 6.4 days). Heritability (<jats:italic>h</jats:italic><jats:sup>2</jats:sup>) was higher for<jats:italic>MD</jats:italic><jats:sub>p</jats:sub>(estimate ± s.e.: 0.27 ± 0.04) than for<jats:italic>MD</jats:italic><jats:sub>c</jats:sub>(0.15 ± 0.04), but both traits were highly correlated with each other (<jats:italic>rg</jats:italic><jats:sub>pc</jats:sub>= 0.85 ± 0.07).<jats:italic>F</jats:italic><jats:sub>p</jats:sub>and<jats:italic>F</jats:italic><jats:sub>c</jats:sub>had similar heritability (<jats:italic>h</jats:italic><jats:sup>2</jats:sup>around 0.24) and displayed a high genetic correlation (0.78 ± 0.07). The same was true for<jats:italic>H</jats:italic><jats:sub>p</jats:sub>and<jats:italic>H</jats:italic><jats:sub>c</jats:sub>(<jats:italic>h</jats:italic><jats:sup>2</jats:sup>around 0.17 and<jats:italic>rg</jats:italic><jats:sub>pc</jats:sub>= 0.88 ± 0.05). The heritability estimates were 0.24 ± 0.03 for<jats:italic>F</jats:italic><jats:sub>2,12p</jats:sub>and 0.20 ± 0.04 for<jats:italic>F</jats:italic><jats:sub>2,12c</jats:sub>, with a 0.80 ± 0.07 genetic correlation between each other. Permanent environmental effects influenced<jats:italic>MD</jats:italic><jats:sub>p</jats:sub>far less than<jats:italic>MD</jats:italic><jats:sub>c</jats:sub>,<jats:italic>F</jats:italic><jats:sub>p</jats:sub>less than<jats:italic>F</jats:italic><jats:sub>c</jats:sub>, but<jats:italic>H</jats:italic><jats:sub>p</jats:sub>and<jats:italic>H</jats:italic><jats:sub>c</jats:sub>to the same extent. The high values for<jats:italic>rg</jats:italic><jats:sub>pc</jats:sub>(&gt;0.78) indicated that the same genes are involved in the duration of fertility for both PB and CB. Unlike CB, initial fertility for PB (<jats:italic>F</jats:italic><jats:sub>2,4p</jats:sub>) was not correlated to overall fertility rate and to duration of fertility and probably involves different genes, if any. In both breeding schemes, indirect selection on<jats:italic>F</jats:italic>would be better than direct selection on<jats:italic>H</jats:italic>to improve<jats:italic>H</jats:italic>, and easier to implement than selection on MD. Moreover, any gain in one breeding scheme will have its correlated counterpart in the other one, because of the high values of<jats:italic>rg</jats:italic><jats:sub>pc</jats:sub>.</jats:p>

Habitat Use and Behaviours of Introduced Muscovy Ducks (Cairina moschata) in Urban and Suburban Environments

“…This is particularly the case in the United States, where the Muscovy duck is legally recognized as an invasive species due to threats it poses to other species and the environment (USFWS 2010). Some of these potential concerns include: interbreeding with wild waterfowl (Brun et al 2012), competition for resources with native wildlife (USFWS 2010), degradation of water quality , and transmission of various diseases to native birds and domestic poultry (Takahashi et al 1996, Lvov et al 2008, Zhu et al 2012, Niqueux et al 2014, Yun et al 2014. Accordingly, the species is exempt from protection by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act in the United States (16 U.S.C.…”

Investigating the genetic determination of duration-of-fertility trait in breeding hens

“…It is believed that the problems associated with the duration of fertility are both genetic and environmental factors, including diet, lighting conditions, age, feeding, and insemination methods, which could modulate the duration-of-fertility in hens 9 – 15 . In ducks, duration-of-fertility trait-related heritability between 0.15 and 0.24 has been reported by Brun et al 16 , who analyzed fertility traits following crossbreeding by AI with pooled semen. Moreover, traditional selection trials have been used to produce generations with a long duration of fertility, and the possibility of increasing the AI intervals by improving the duration-of-fertility trait has been demonstrated.…”

A genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphism scan reveals genetic markers associated with fertility rate in Chinese Jing Hong chicken

“…Improving in the DF could increase the interval between successive AI, thus to cut down the number of breeder males and labor costs associated with AI ( Beaumont, et al., 1992 ). In previous studies, the possibility of increasing the AI intervals by improving DF via the selection of these 2 traits has been proven ( Beaumont, 1992 , Yu et al., 2002 , Cheng et al., 2009 , Brun et al., 2012 ). Recently, with advances in technologies of next generation sequencing, genome-wide association studies ( GWAS ) have been utilized to identify the associations between genomic loci and reproductive traits with moderate density single nucleotide polymorphism ( SNP ) arrays in chickens ( Liu et al., 2011 , Wolc et al., 2014 , Zhang et al., 2015 ).…”