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20164
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Subject: Poultry Science × End date: 2016 × Start date: 2016 ×
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    DEVELOPMENT OF A MEAT LINE OF KUTTANAD DUCKS (Anas platyrhynchos domesticus)
    (COLLEGE OF VETERINARY AND ANIMAL SCIENCES MANNUTHY, THRISSUR, 2016-12-30) STELLA CYRIAC; Leo Joseph
    A selection experiment was conducted in Kuttanad ducks at University Poultry Farm, Mannuthy under Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences University with the objective of developing a meat line. One thousand and eighty eight day-old Kuttanad ducklings procured from progressive farmers of Kerala formed the base generation (S0). Based on body weight at eighth week, top ranking 150 females and 25 males were selected through individual selection method. From the 25 sire families, 979, 969 and 1610 ducklings were produced by artificial insemination in S1, S2 and S3 generation in pedigreed hatches. Body weight, feed consumption and mortality were recorded at fortnightly intervals till 12th week of age in each generation. Genetic parameters for body weight at 8, 10 and 12 weeks were estimated using full sib correlation method. Selection differential, intensity of selection and response to selection were calculated for body weight at 8 weeks. Carcass characteristics were evaluated at 8, 10 and 12 weeks of age in four generations. The body weight at 18 and 40 weeks, feed consumption from 13 to 40 weeks, age at first egg and age at 10 and 50 per cent production, duck housed egg production and egg weight at 30 and 40 weeks were recorded in the selected parent stock of S0, S1 and S2 generations. The mean body weight at 8 weeks was 1103.38 g in the S0 generation. An improvement of 270.51 g could be recorded at 8 weeks in S3 generation. The period of active weight gain was shifted to 4th and 6th week in S3 generation whereas it was 8th week in the previous generations. The total per cent of observations above 1200 g weight increased over generations and the increase is more pronounced at 8 weeks of age. The results also indicate that a compensatory growth mechanism is present in ducks wherein the lower body weight in the early stages of growth are compensated in the subsequent weeks and they attain 90 per cent of the adult body weight by 12 weeks of age. The heritability estimates for body weight at 8 weeks of age based on sire plus dam components (h2 s+d) were 0.251, 0.313 and 0.243 in S1, S2 and S3 generations. The realised heritability was 0.60. High values were observed for phenotypic correlation between body weight at 8 and 10, 8 and 12 and 10 and 12 weeks of age. The genetic correlations were higher than the environmental correlations except in the sire component in S1 generation. The regression coefficients indicate that higher increase in body weight per generation was obtained for body weight at 8 weeks (94 g) rather than for body weight at 10 (56 g) and 12 weeks (55 g). S3 generation showed the lowest cumulative feed conversion ratio of 2.39 up to 8 weeks. The carcass characteristics of male and female Kuttanad ducks at 8, 10 and 12 weeks of age showed that there was improvement in the eviscerated yield of carcass over generations and S3 generation attained the highest yield at 8 weeks. The performance of parent stock indicated that selection had not altered their egg production performance. Artificial Insemination at 5 days interval could achieve 89 per cent fertility in the parent stock. The results of the selection experiment indicate that selection for body weight at 8 weeks was effective in improving the body weight and a line of Kuttanad ducks with meat characteristics could be developed. The higher body weight, body weight gain and the distribution of birds in the higher weight groups reveal that the S3 generation of Kuttanad ducks possess the characteristics of a meat line. The trend observed in body weight gain, frequency distribution, response to selection and correlated responses as well as the high heritability and phenotypic correlation for body weight at 8 weeks establish that the criterion for selection (8th week body weight) employed in the present study was appropriate. The carcass characteristics especially the eviscerated yield and yield of cut-up parts over generations indicate that the meat producing potential of Kuttanad ducks has improved as a result of selection. It could be concluded that Kuttanad ducks could attain its optimum meat production characteristics at 8 weeks and hence it could be considered as the ideal age for processing.
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    EVALUATION OF DIETARY PROTEIN LEVEL FOR GROWTH IN KUTTANAD DUCKS
    (COLLEGE OF VETERINARY AND ANIMAL SCIENCES-MANNUTHY,THRISSUR, 2016) JENY GEORGE; Leo Joseph
    An experiment was conducted to determine the requirement of dietary protein level for growth in Kuttanad ducklings at the Department of Poultry Science, College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Mannuthy. One hundred ninety two ducklings were divided randomly into four dietary treatments, each with four replicates of 12 ducklings each. The dietary treatment consisted of T1, 16 per cent CP (Crude Protein), T2 (18 per cent CP), T3 (20 per cent CP) and T4 (22 per cent CP). The energy level was 2800 kcal/ kg Metabolizable Energy (ME) in all treatments. Identical management practices were followed for all treatments. Data on body weight, body weight gain and feed consumption were recorded at weekly interval from day old to 12 weeks of age.The processing yields and losses were studied at the end of 8 and 12 weeks of age. Fatty acid composition of meat was analyzed at 12 weeks of age. The day-old body weight in Kuttanad ducks in the 16 per cent protein (T1), 18 per cent (T2), 20 per cent (T3) and 22 per cent (T4) was 37.27, 36.96, 37.56 and 37.13 g, respectively. At eight weeks of age, the mean body weight was 1213.75, 1307.90, 1359.77 and 1256.19 g, respectively, in the T1, T2, T3 and T4. The mean body weight of birds in the treatments T1, T2, T3 and T4 at 12 week of age was 1560.68, 1555.60, 1565.18 and 1561.88 (g), respectively. The cumulative body weight gain of T1, T2, T3 and T4 was 1176.48, 1270.93, 1322.23 and 1219.07 g, respectively, at eight week of age. The same was 1523.57, 1518.80, 1527.63 and 1524.73 g, respectively, at 12 week of age. The cumulative feed intake of T1, T2, T3 and T4 was 4947.69, 5016.07, 4972.54 and 4839.23 g, respectively, upto eight week of age and the same was 8450.34, 8569.91, 8451.71 and 8235.56 g, respectively, at 12 weeks of age. The cumulative FCR of T1, T2, T3 and T4 was 4.20, 3.95, 3.70 and 3.97, respectively, at eight week of age. The same was 5.47, 5.55, 5.40 and 5.34, respectively, at 12 weeks of age. The processing yield was near to 70% in all groups. The fatty acid composition was also similar in all dietary protein levels. Omega-3 fatty acid content was 0.73, 0.59, 0.71 and 0.95 in T1, T2, T3 and T4. Compared to saturated fatty acids a higher level of unsaturated fatty acid (per cent) was observed in the present study. The net profit/bird was found to be maximuim in T3 containing 20 per cent protein with 2800 kcal/kg ME at eighth week of age. The overall livability of ducks under different dietary treatments was close to 100 per cent The results of the study indicated that the ducklings under dietary treatment containing 20 per cent crude protein showed improved growth performance with regards to 8 th week body weight, body weight gain, feed consumption and FCR than treatment groups with 16, 18 and 22 percent crude protein levels. At 12 week of age, the body weight was similar but the feed efficiency was very poor (5.34 to 5.55). The processing yield at 12 weeks was also similar to 8th week yield, but the carcass was better in appearance. It was concluded that rearing Kuttanad ducklings upto eight weeks of age with 20 per cent CP and 2800kcal/ kg ME was comparatively economical for meat production.
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    IDENTIFICATION OF SNPs OF OVOCALYXIN-32 GENE IN IWN STRAIN OF WHITE LEGHORN AND ITS ASSOCIATION WITH PRODUCTION TRAITS
    (COLLEGE OF VETERINARY AND ANIMAL SCIENCES-MANNUTHY,THRISSUR, 2016) GREESHMA GIRIJAN; Sankaralingam S
    Selection based on markers can make it accurate and efficient at earlier age to enable the genetic improvement quicker. The present study was carried out using 150 birds of IWN strain of White Leghorn, maintained at AICRP on Poultry Improvement, Mannuthy, to identify the SNPs in the exon 2, 3 and 4 of ovocalyxin-32 (OCX-32) gene and their association with the production traits. The genomic DNA was isolated from the blood of randomly selected birds using DNA isolation kit. PCR-RFLP analysis was done to identify the SNPs c.267T>G, c.381G>C and 494A>C in exon 2, 3 and 4. In each exon, three genotypes were obtained based on the polymorphism analysis. The genotypes obtained are TT, TG and GG in exon 2, GG, GC and CC in exon 3 and AA, AC and CC in exon 4, respectively. The genotypic frequencies of TT, TG and GG were 0.900, 0.047 and 0.053, respectively. The frequency of T allele was more in the population than the mutant G. The frequencies of GG, GC and CC were 0.09, 0.58 and 0.32, respectively. The frequency of mutant allele C (0.61) was high in the population than G (0.39). In exon 4, the frequencies of AA, AC and CC were 0.08, 0.37 and 0.55, respectively. The allelic frequencies of A and C were 0.27 and 0.73, respectively. As there was no significant numbers of birds with SNP in exon 2, it was not taken for further analysis. The result revealed that there was significant (p<0.05) association between c.381 G>C with body weight and shell thickness and the SNP c.494A>C was significantly (p<0.05) associated with egg number, age at sexual maturity and egg weight at the later stage. Hence these two SNPs can be utilized as markers in selection and breeding of layers.
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    EVALUATION OF DIETARY PROTEIN LEVEL FOR GROWTH IN KUTTANAD DUCKS
    (COLLEGE OF VETERINARY AND ANIMAL SCIENCE-MANNUTHY,THRISSUR, 2016) JENY GEORGE; Leo Joseph
    An experiment was conducted to determine the requirement of dietary protein level for growth in Kuttanad ducklings at the Department of Poultry Science, College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Mannuthy. One hundred ninety two ducklings were divided randomly into four dietary treatments, each with four replicates of 12 ducklings each. The dietary treatment consisted of T1, 16 per cent CP (Crude Protein), T2 (18 per cent CP), T3 (20 per cent CP) and T4 (22 per cent CP). The energy level was 2800 kcal/ kg Metabolizable Energy (ME) in all treatments. Identical management practices were followed for all treatments. Data on body weight, body weight gain and feed consumption were recorded at weekly interval from day old to 12 weeks of age.The processing yields and losses were studied at the end of 8 and 12 weeks of age. Fatty acid composition of meat was analyzed at 12 weeks of age. The day-old body weight in Kuttanad ducks in the 16 per cent protein (T1), 18 per cent (T2), 20 per cent (T3) and 22 per cent (T4) was 37.27, 36.96, 37.56 and 37.13 g, respectively. At eight weeks of age, the mean body weight was 1213.75, 1307.90, 1359.77 and 1256.19 g, respectively, in the T1, T2, T3 and T4. The mean body weight of birds in the treatments T1, T2, T3 and T4 at 12 week of age was 1560.68, 1555.60, 1565.18 and 1561.88 (g), respectively. The cumulative body weight gain of T1, T2, T3 and T4 was 1176.48, 1270.93, 1322.23 and 1219.07 g, respectively, at eight week of age. The same was 1523.57, 1518.80, 1527.63 and 1524.73 g, respectively, at 12 week of age. The cumulative feed intake of T1, T2, T3 and T4 was 4947.69, 5016.07, 4972.54 and 4839.23 g, respectively, upto eight week of age and the same was 8450.34, 8569.91, 8451.71 and 8235.56 g, respectively, at 12 weeks of age. The cumulative FCR of T1, T2, T3 and T4 was 4.20, 3.95, 3.70 and 3.97, respectively, at eight week of age. The same was 5.47, 5.55, 5.40 and 5.34, respectively, at 12 weeks of age. The processing yield was near to 70% in all groups. The fatty acid composition was also similar in all dietary protein levels. Omega-3 fatty acid content was 0.73, 0.59, 0.71 and 0.95 in T1, T2, T3 and T4. Compared to saturated fatty acids a higher level of unsaturated fatty acid (per cent) was observed in the present study. The net profit/bird was found to be maximuim in T3 containing 20 per cent protein with 2800 kcal/kg ME at eighth week of age. The overall livability of ducks under different dietary treatments was close to 100 per cent The results of the study indicated that the ducklings under dietary treatment containing 20 per cent crude protein showed improved growth performance with regards to 8th week body weight, body weight gain, feed consumption and FCR than treatment groups with 16, 18 and 22 percent crude protein levels. At 12 week of age, the body weight was similar but the feed efficiency was very poor (5.34 to 5.55). The processing yield at 12 weeks was also similar to 8th week yield, but the carcass was better in appearance. It was concluded that rearing Kuttanad ducklings upto eight weeks of age with 20 per cent CP and 2800kcal/ kg ME was comparatively economical for meat production.