China Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine ›› 2022, Vol. 49 ›› Issue (3): 830-836.doi: 10.16431/j.cnki.1671-7236.2022.03.004

• Special Focus: Genetic Breeding and Nutrition of Waterfowl • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Estimation of Heritability and Genetic Parameters of Related Traits in Striped Duck Eggs

SANG Qiangqiang, SUN Yunxiao, LIU Ying, HOU Zhuocheng   

  1. Collage of Animal Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China
  • Received:2021-10-27 Online:2022-03-05 Published:2022-03-03

Abstract: 【Objective】 The purpose of the experiment was to study the heritability of the degree of striped eggs produced by ducks and the genetic correlation with other traits related to egg quality.【Method】 600 female ducks of the A line were selected and the eggs produced were collected.The degree of striped eggs was divided into 0, 1, 2, 3, and 4 grades according to the coverage area of the striped on the surface of the duck egg.The grade of striped eggs and other egg quality-related traits were observed and determined, the restricted maximum likelihood estimation method and linear mixed model were used to estimate heritability and genetic parameters of related traits.【Result】 During the experiment, 418 female ducks lay eggs among 600 female ducks and 1 171 breeding eggs were collected.Among them, there were 742, 135, 161, 93, and 40 striped eggs at grades 0, 1, 2, 3 and 4, which account for 63%, 12%, 14%, 8% and 3% of the total.The number of laying ducks which produced grades 0, 1, 2, 3 and 4 were 228, 55, 69, 46 and 20, respectively.The heritability of striped egg grade, average egg weight, average egg type index, and birth weight were 0.30, 0.29, 0.52, and 0.72, respectively, which belonged to high heritability.The heritability of the total number of eggs was 0.15, which was medium heritability.The striped egg grade had a higher genetic positive correlation (0.34) and a lower phenotypic positive correlation (0.12) with the total number of eggs.【Conclusion】 The striped egg grade, average egg weight, average egg type index and birth weight all had high heritability.The selection and elimination of some female ducks that produced higher grades of striped eggs could reduce the proportion of striped eggs produced by ducks.In this study, the grades of striped duck eggs were divided for the first time, which could accurately distinguish the differences between striped eggs, provided classification standards for subsequent related studies, and provided a basis and reference for genetic improvement of egg production performance.

Key words: duck; striped eggs; striped egg grading; genetic parameters

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