Breeding and genetics of waterfowl

Abstract

Genetic parameters of traits of interest in ducks and geese are reported. Recent achievements of research, specially to improve the Brown Tsaiya laying duck; the intergeneric crossbreeding in duck; the meat ducks Pekin and Muscovy; the goose reproduction ability; the meat and fatty liver production in geese and ducks were analysed. A linear genetic selection index based on MT-BLUP animal model of breeding values with objectives to maintain body weight, egg weight at current levels, to increase egg shell strength and egg number, used for four generations in Brown Tsaiya laying ducks was evaluated. A seven generations selection experiment was successful in increasing the duration of fertility of Brown Tsaiya female ducks by artificial insemination with pooled Muscovy semen. The genetic parameters of growth and laying traits in a selected Muscovy line in Taiwan were estimated. Favourable genetic trends for body weight at given age, without decreasing egg production, were found in this selected Muscovy line. The selection of grandparent stocks (White Tsaiya and Pekin) for white plumage mule ducks in Taiwan was efficient. The genetic parameters of laying and gosling production traits of Landaise geese and of a White plumage goose strain, bred in two systems, respectively outdoors with natural photoperiodism and in indoors with short daylight conditions were reported. The more advantageous system in selecting for laying traits in geese is discussed. Fatty liver weight was found to be highly heritable in geese and male Muscovy ducks. The genetic parameters of overfed mule duck traits were estimated in the Pekin dam population. It is concluded that future research should focus on biotechnology, quantitative trait loci detection and genome analysis. 509 Breeding and genetics of watefowl: YS. Cheng et al. CHANG, T., HUNG, T.S., CHANG, L.Y., HSIEH, M.H., CHENG, Y.S. and TAI, C. (2000) The duration of fertility in ducks: Studies on the polymorphism of the oestrogen receptor gene.

Genetic evaluation of reproductive potential in the Zatorska goose under a conservation program

“…Cheng et al . () also mentioned similar results for ducks. The heritability estimates for fertility in ducks artificially inseminated were 0.26–0.30 and for embryo mortality were lower and reached 0.06–0.09.…”

Characteristics of reproductive traits and egg traits of crossbred geese with Graylag ancestry

“…In the same three-breed crosses, the number of eggs (20) and egg weight (145.3-152.1 g) were small in the first period of laying , whereas in the second and third periods wild Graylag crosses of all groups laid more eggs that were heavier (Mazanowski and Bernacki, 2003;Mazanowski and Dziadek, 2003). The small egg production during the first year of laying may be attributed to slower sexual maturation of the wild Graylag crossbred geese (Cheng et al, 2003). Egg production in geese can also be increased by breeding methods.…”

Production benefits of the crossbreeding of indigenous and non-indigenous ducks—growing and laying period body weight and production performance

“…Diallel crossing is generally used to estimate different crossbreeding parameters and to identify suitable cross for commercial exploitation. Growth and production performance of different breeds of ducks and their crosses have been reported (Eswaran et al 1984(Eswaran et al , 1985Pingel 1990;Wolf and Knizetova 1994;Cheng et al 2003;Nageswar et al 2005;Padhi et al 2009a, b). Very few reports are available on combining ability and crossbreeding parameters estimation of ducks.…”