Artificial Insemination of the Cherry Valley Duck with Muscovy Drakes

[Objective] To explore artificial insemination technique of mule duck.[Method] Male Muscovy duck and female Cherry Valley duck were selected to conduct artificial insemination.Semens of male Muscovy duck were collected with massage method and inseminated the female Cherry Valley duck with vagina-insemination method.Effects of volume of semen,insemination interval,insemination time and diluent on fertilization rate were studied in series of experiments.[Result] The average fertilization rate was only 39.58% by natural mating between male Muscovy duck and female Cherry Valley duck,while the average fertilization rate increased to 74.79% by artificial insemination.There were no significant difference between fresh semen and diluted semens by phosphate and Lake's buffer.The fertilization rate of diluted semens by phosphate and Lake's buffer were 75.24% and 75.16% respectively,and the fertilization rate of fresh semen was 74.10%.The semen was diluted by phosphate and Lake's buffer,then stored at 5 ℃ for 24 h.The average fertilization rate of these two diluted semen decreased to 23.76% and 34.33% respectively.[Conclusion] Artificial insemination technology can reduce semen volume and increase the fertilization rate in Mule duck production.