FUW TRENDS IN SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY JOURNAL
(A Peer Review Journal)
e–ISSN: 2408–5162; p–ISSN: 2048–5170
keywords: Breeding stock, farmers, inbreeding rate, performance, Muscovy duck
The study was conducted to evaluate the flock structure, preference in selection of breeding stock, production traits and culling criteria in indigenous Muscovy ducks of Taraba State, Nigeria. Sixty farm families who keep indigenous Muscovy ducks were randomly selected and administered structured questionnaires in addition to routine visits to obtain data. Data was analysed using descriptive statistics and the non-parametric kruskal-wallis test to test if median ranks attached to each criterion used in selecting breeding stock, production traits and culling criteria varied. A mating ratio of 1 drake: 2.71 duck was observed in the Muscovy duck population. Farmers preferred body size, egg number, hatchability, mothering ability and heat tolerance in selection of breeding stock. Farmers chose high fertility, increased egg production and large body size as traits of greater economic importance. Farmers culled drakes with low fertility, small body size and poor health while fertility, egg number, body size and mothering ability were highly ranked as culling criteria for ducks. The low rate of inbreeding (0.009%) estimated implied that the population was not at risk of extinction. It was concluded that Animal Breeders should take into consideration farmers’ traits of preference when developing improvement and conservation schemes for indigenous Muscovy duck genetic resources in the study area.
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