Fattening ability of Muscovy, Pekin and their hybrids, hinny and mule ducks

Abstract

Muscovy duck has a higher susceptibility to hepatic steatosis than Pekin duck which exhibits a higher fattiness in adipose and muscle tissues. Actually, Muscovy duck has a more efficient hepatic lipogenesis but its ability to export lipids is lower. Moreover, the activity of lipoprotein lipase is also lower in Muscovy duck, particularly at the end of overfeeding period, which enhances the return of circulating triglycerides to the liver. By comparison with the parental species, hinny and mule ducks always present intermediate values for all these parameters except for feed ingestion capacity and fatty liver weight for which they benefit from a heterosis effect.