Abstract
Reproductive performance was studied in five strains of mallards with different degrees of wildness. Game farm mallards had a longer breeding season, higher egg production, larger clutch size, and higher male fertility than wild mallards. Incubation time and maximum emergence time were also longer for eggs laid by game farm dams than for eggs laid by wild dams. There was no significant difference between strains for embryonic mortality and hatchability. Hybrid strains were intermediate between the game farm and the wild strain in traits where significant differences were found. Although game farm and wild mallards differed substantially in several of the reproductive traits examined, and these differences may have a direct influence on the reproductive success of game farm strains in the wild, none seems to present any postcopulatory isolating mechanisms between these two strains of mallards.
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