SEffect of Individual Selection on Growth and Carcass Characteristics in Kuttanad Ducks (Anas platyrhynchos domesticus)

Abstract

An experiment was conducted at the University Poultry and Duck Farm, Mannuthy, Kerala to study the effect of individual selection on growth and carcass characteristics in Kuttanad ducks. One thousand and eighty-eight day-old Kuttanad ducklings procured from progressive farmers of Kerala formed the base generation (S0). Based on body weight at eighth week, top 150 females and 25 males were selected through individual selection. From the 25 sire families, 979, 969 and 1610 ducklings were produced by artificial insemination in S1, S2 and S3 generation in pedigreed hatches. Body weight was recorded at fortnightly intervals till 12th week of age and at 18th and 40th week of age in each generation. Carcass characteristics were evaluated at 8, 10 and 12 weeks of age in four generations. An improvement of 270.51 g could be recorded at 8 weeks in S3 generation. The period of active weight gain shifted to 4th and 6th week in S3 generation whereas it was 8th week in the previous generations. The results also indicated that a compensatory growth mechanism is present in ducks and they attain 90 per cent of the adult body weight by 12 weeks of age. The carcass characteristics showed that there was improvement in the dressing percentage over generations and S3 generation attained the highest yield at 8 weeks. Hence, selection for body weight at 8 weeks was effective in improving the body weight and they could attain its optimum meat production characteristics at 8 weeks and hence it could be considered as the ideal age for processing.

Comparison of growth traits and carcass yield of Kuttanad and White Pekin ducks

“…At 8 and 10 weeks of age, the mean slaughter weight and carcass weight of WPD were significantly (p<0.05) higher than the other groups and the yield was statistically similar in UKD and IKD. The average slaughter weight in unselected flock of Kuttanad ducks at all ages was similar to that of Cyriac (2016) and Sapcota et al (2009), but greater than that of Cyriac et al (2014) and Kolluri et al (2015). The average slaughter weight of the Kuttanad ducks in the present study were lower than that reported by Sangilimadan et al (2001) in desi spent ducks.…”

Effects of different concentrations of honeysuckle (Lonicera iberica M. Bieb.) and barberry (Berberis vulgaris L.) extracts in cryopreserving of duck semen on sperm quality

“…In our study, the ejaculate volume was determined to be 0.68 ± 0.50 ml (Table 2). It was higher than the value given by ANCUELO et al (2021) andCYRIAC et al (2013), but within the range given by WAGNER and PINGEL (1995). These differences could be related to factors such as frequency of ejaculate collection, age, season and feeding.…”

“…Other studies in ducks have found sperm concentrations of 1.5-8.0 x109 sperm/ml (ANCUELO et al, 2021), 3.03 x109 sperm/ml (CYRIAC et al, 2013) and 0.84-1.3x109 sperm/ml (NAHAK et al, 2015), respectively. The collection method, the frequency of collection, the duck species -all these factors can influence sperm concentration.…”

“…The ejaculate volume was reported to be 0.14 ± 0.09 ml in the study of ANCUELO et al (2021) on Anas platyrhynchos and 0.18 ml in the study of CYRIAC et al (2013) on native ducks from India. Similarly, WAGNER and PINGEL (1995) found a volume of 0.10-0.70 ml in Peking ducks.…”