Abstract
Abstract. Eighty Pekin ducks from P11 and P22 conservative flocks (40 birds of each strain, including 20 males and 20 females) were investigated. Ducks were raised in a confinement building and fed ad libitum standard diets for waterfowl. At 7 weeks of age, 5 males and 5 females from each strain were slaughtered and dissected. Breast and leg muscles were sampled to determine fatty acid profile and selected minerals. Compared to P22 ducks, P11 ducks showed higher body weight at 7 weeks of age and higher rate of growth paralleled by better feed conversion ratio (kg feed/kg gain), higher dressing percentage, lower proportion (%) of leg muscles and lower proportion of all carcass muscles. Differences in these traits were not significant. Breast muscles of P11 ducks had significantly more C24:0 and C20:4 acids and leg muscles contained significantly more C14:0, C16:1, C18:1 and C24:0 acids compared to P22 ducks. In addition, leg muscles of P11 ducks had a significantly lower proportion of C17:0, C18:0, C24:0 and C22:4 compared to the same muscles of P22 birds. Leg muscles of P11 ducks had significantly more monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA), higher unsaturated to saturated fatty acid (UFA/SFA) and polyunsaturated to saturated fatty acid ratios (PUFA/SFA), and significantly less saturated fatty acids (SFA) compared to P22 ducks. The Na, K, Mg, Fe, Cu and Zn content of duck muscles was similar in both lines. Compared to leg muscles, breast muscles of P11 and P22 ducks were found to contain significantly more iron (Fe) and copper (Cu), and less zinc (Zn).
Highlights
Maintenance of conservation poultry flocks of different origin and genotype seems necessary for biological, economic, cultural and historical reasons
The European Production Index (EPI) was higher in P11 compared to P22 birds (Table 2), which shows that P11 birds are more profitable to raise than P22 birds
No breeding work was conducted in the conservative flocks, P11 and P22 ducks are characterized by considerable genetic potential for meat traits, as evidenced by their high rate of growth and considerable body weight at the age of 7 weeks
Summary
Maintenance of conservation poultry flocks of different origin and genotype seems necessary for biological, economic, cultural and historical reasons. Conservative flocks of ducks, maintained unselected since 1977 at the Waterfowl Genetic Resources Station in Dworzyska using the in situ method, are a source of genetic variation and were used to create new breeding strains and synthetic groups (WAWRO et al KSIĄŻKIEWICZ 2006). The other four conservative flocks, designated as P11, P22, P44 and P55 (Polish Pekin) were kept on a private farm at the Duck Breeding Centre in Lińsk near Tuchola. A new breeding programme developed in Poland to conserve genetic resources of the duck population examines the origins of different flocks and justifies the need for their protection while describing flock standards, programme objectives, the extent of performance recording, and the breeding methods used (KSIĄŻKIEWICZ et al 2007)
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