Genetic parameters of carcass traits in ducks from a crossbred population

The aim of this study was to estimate coefficients of heritability as well as genetic and phenotypic correlations among body weight and carcass traits. The dataset contained records of 387 birds from the second crossbred generation. The following traits were recorded: body weight (BW) at 11 weeks, carcass weight (CW), breast muscle weight including superficial and deep muscle (BMW), leg muscle weight including thigh and shank (LMW), wings weight (WW), skin with subcutaneous fat weight (SW), abdominal fat weight (AFW), skeleton with the back muscle and inedible elements (SBM), and liver weight (LW). Estimates of variance components were obtained by the average information - REML algorithm in the ASReml package. Very high slaughter yield (74.90%) was obtained. Generally, the coefficients of heritability were high. The highest one of 0.75 was estimated for body weight at 11 weeks. High coefficients of h2 were estimated for breast muscle weight (0.69), wings weight (0.70), carcass weight (0.65), skin with subcutaneous fat weight (0.57) and skeleton with the back muscle (0.58), whereas h2 of liver weight was 0.29. Both phenotypic and genetic relationships between the recorded traits were usually positive. Generally, it seems that the crossbreeding scheme can be perceived as a suitable proposal for the breeding practice.