Application of synthetic index selection in muscovy duck breeding

The method of synthetic index selection was applied to continuous progeny breeding for paternal and maternal lines of parental generation in white muscovy duck. The results showed that: (1) the average body weights of male and female ducks (at the age of 10 weeks) of paternal line were 280.18 and 242.91 g heavier than those of maternal line respectively (P0.05) in the third generation; (2) the average body weights of male and female ducks (at the age of 26 weeks) were 300 and 80 g heavier in the third generation of paternal line than those in the first generation, and there was no singnificant difference (P0.05) of the average body weight between the third and the first generation of maternal line; (3) the average weight of eggs of paternal line at the age of 56 weeks in the third generation was 3.14 g heavier than that in first generation, but the number of eggs of each duck in the third generation was only 3.86 more than that in the first generation; (4) the number of eggs of each duck of maternal line in the third generation at the age of 56 weeks was 8 more than that in the first generation, but the averge weight of eggs was only 0.45 g heavier than that in the first generation. The conclusion was that the productive ability of white muscovy duck was increased throught three generation selection.