• Korean Journal of Veterinary Service
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.203-210
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• 2023

Breeding ducks are susceptible to fungal infections due to being bred in confined spaces for long periods. The objective of this study was to show the real state of the clinical fungal contamination of 22 duck breeding farms in Chungcheongbuk-do, South Korea. Out of the 430 carcasses obtained from the 22 duck breeding farms, 80 were diagnosed with invasive pulmonary aspergillosis (IPA). Aspergillus spp. were detected as the causative agents, including 26 cases of A. fumigatus, 35 cases of A. flavus, and 19 cases of A. terreus. The clinical lesions in the breeding ducks had circumscribed cream-and-yellow-colored plaques and/or white-to-greenish mycelium. Septate hyphae with parallel walls and dichotomous branching were observed in the histopathological lesions. AGMAg ELISA was performed to determine the overall positive rate of Aspergillus spp. in duck breeding farms. These results showed a positive rate of 58.97% for Aspergillus spp. Additionally, the positive rate increased with the age of the host.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.289-293
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• 2021

This study was conducted to investigate the distribution of duck production in duck housing as a function of the breeding period. The items in duck production distribution included body weight, feed intake, feed conversion ratio, and average duck production. All data were based on eight cycles (June and December, 2017; February, June, August, September, and November, 2018; February, 2019) at Farm Site 1 through 7. The most optimal results in the duck production distribution were observed at Site 1 for weight gain, feed intake, and feed efficiency. This could be explained by the fact that Site 1 was well managed in environmental improvement and sustainability. Based on these data, selective alternatives to improve duck production in duck farms are recommended as follows: first, proper management and recording of litter used as a flooring material are required, and second, continuous management such as temperature, relative humidity and ventilation is needed. Lastly, it is necessary to change duck facilities by introducing environmental management techniques. Furthermore, efforts to improve the overall facilities and management of duck breeding farms through additional field studies are needed in the future.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.418-421
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• 2003

This study is object to design and souctural analysis of duck breeding system. Design tool is Auto CAD and souctural analysis of duck breeding system using result from ANSYS Code. The finite element model was developed to compute the stress, strain and displacement for duck breeding system. This structural analysis results, many variables such as boundary condition, constraint condition and load condition are considered.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.34 no.7
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• pp.1193-1201
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• 2021

Objective: According to market demand, meat duck breeding mainly includes 2 breeding directions: lean Pekin duck (LPD) and fat Pekin duck (FPD). The aim of the present study was to compare carcass and meat quality traits between 2 strains, and to provide basic data for guidelines of processing and meat quality improvement. Methods: A total of 62 female Pekin ducks (32 LPDs and 30 FPDs) were slaughtered at the age of 42 days. The live body weight and carcass traits were measured and calculated. Physical properties of breast muscle were determined by texture analyzer and muscle fibers were measured by paraffin sections. The content of inosine monophosphate (IMP), intramuscular fat (IMF) and fatty acids composition were measured by high-performance liquid chromatography, Soxhlet extraction method and automated gas chromatography respectively. Results: The results showed that the bodyweight of LPDs was higher than that of FPDs. FPDs were significantly higher than LPDs in subcutaneous fat thickness, subcutaneous fat weight, subcutaneous fat percentage, abdominal fat percentage and abdominal fat shear force (p<0.01). LPDs were significantly higher than FPDs in breast muscle thickness, breast muscle weight, breast muscle rate and breast muscle shear force (p<0.01). The muscle fiber average area and fiber diameter of LPDs were significantly higher than those of FPDs (p<0.01). The muscle fiber density of LPDs was significantly lower than that of FPDs (p<0.01). The IMF of LPDs in the breast muscle was significantly higher than that in the FPDs (p<0.01). There was no significant difference between the 2 strains in IMP content (p>0.05). The polyunsaturated fatty acid content of LPDs was significantly higher than that of FPDs (p<0.01), and FPDs had higher saturated fatty acid and monounsaturated fatty acid levels (p<0.05). Conclusion: Long-term breeding work resulted in vast differences between the two strains Pekin ducks. This study provides a reference for differences between LPD and FPD that manifest as a result of long-term selection.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.35 no.9
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• pp.1327-1339
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• 2022

Objective: Fat deposition in poultry is an important factor in production performance and meat quality research. miRNAs also play important roles in regulating adipocyte differentiation process. This study was to investigate the expression patterns of miRNAs in duck adipocytes after differentiation and explore the role of miR-214 in regulating carnitine palmitoyltransferases 2 (CPT2) gene expression during duck adipocyte differentiation. Methods: Successful systems for the isolation, culture, and induction of duck primary fat cells was developed in the experiment. Using Illumina next-generation sequencing, the miRNAs libraries of duck adipocytes were established. miRanda was used to predict differentially expressed (DE) miRNAs and their target genes. The expression patterns of miR-214 and CPT2 during the differentiation were verified by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction and western blot. Luciferase reporter assays were used to explore the specific regions of CPT2 targeted by miR-214. We used a miR-214 over-expression strategy in vitro to further investigate its effect on differentiation process and CPT2 gene transcription. Results: There were 481 miRNAs identified in duck adipocytes, included 57 DE miRNA candidates. And the 1,046 targets genes of DE miRNAs were mainly involved in p53 signaling, FoxO signaling, and fatty acid metabolism pathways. miR-214 and CPT2 showed contrasting expression patterns before and after differentiation, and they were selected for further research. The expression of miR-214 was decreased during the first 3 days of duck adipocytes differentiation, and then increased, while the expression of CPT2 increased both in the transcriptional and protein level. The luciferase assay suggested that miR-214 targets the 3'untranslated region of CPT2. Overexpression of miR-214 not only promoted the formation of lipid droplets but also decreased the protein abundance of CPT2. Conclusion: Current study reports the expression profile of miRNAs in duck adipocytes differentiated for 4 days. And miR-214 has been proved to have the regulator potential for fat deposition in duck.

• Monthly Duck's Village
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• s.70
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• pp.50-51
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• 2009

The duck meat market has grown significantly in recent years and is likely to continue with genetic and husbandry advances, making duck increasingly competitive to other poultry and meat products. Duck meat currently represents less than 10% of total poultry meat production and is largely concentrated in China and southern Asia.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.63 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 2021

Number of duck and its breeding facilities have been steadily decreasing for financial and social issues in Korea. Therefore, the 'turning point' for duck industry is strongly demanded. In this study, the questionary survey was carried out to provide backgrounds for developing policy and technology for duck breeding farms. The questionary survey aimed to investigate the information of operation strategy of farm, ventilation, cooling and heating. The total number of survey respondents was 74. In case of facility type, 55.4% of respondents stated they used greenhouse type, 31.3% for winch-curtain type, and 2.7% for windowless type (mechanically ventilated facility). More than 85% of the facilities were using 'natural ventilation', it meant that these situation can restrict the not only environmental control but also the supply policy for 'smart farm' of the Government. 44.6% used the combination of the cross-ventilation method and roof-ventilation method for ventilation operation in summer season, and 31.1% followed only the cross-ventilation method. In case of winter season, 36.5% used the cross-ventilation method, and 33.3% used the combination of cross and roof-ventilation, method. For the ventilation strategy, about 86.5% depended on farmer's experience. In case of heating and cooling, 79.7% were using kerosene heater for winter season, and 43.2% were using mist-spray for summer season, respectively. More than 75% stated that cooling and heating strategies were based on farmer's experience. From the analyses of the survey results, a few proposals for developing policy and technology for duck breeding farm was suggested.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.224-235
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• 2022

Objective: Cage rearing has critical implications for the laying duck industry because it is convenient for feeding and management. However, caging stress is a type of chronic stress that induces maladaptation. Environmental stress responses have been extensively studied, but no detailed information is available about the comprehensive changes in plasma metabolites at different stages of caging stress in ducks. We designed this experiment to analyze the effects of caging stress on performance parameters and oxidative stress indexes in ducks. Methods: Liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS-MS) was used to determine the changes in metabolites in duck plasma at 5 (CR5), 10 (CR10), and 15 (CR15) days after cage rearing and traditional breeding (TB). The associated pathways of differentially altered metabolites were analyzed using Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes (KEGG) database. Results: The results of this study indicate that caging stress decreased performance parameters, and the plasma total superoxide dismutase levels were increased in the CR10 group compared with the other groups. In addition, 1,431 metabolites were detected. Compared with the TB group, 134, 381, and 190 differentially produced metabolites were identified in the CR5, CR10, and CR15 groups, respectively. The results of principal component analysis (PCA) show that the selected components sufficiently distinguish the TB group and CR10 group. KEGG analysis results revealed that the differentially altered metabolites in duck plasma from the CR5 and TB groups were mainly associated with ovarian steroidogenesis, biosynthesis of unsaturated fatty acids, and phenylalanine metabolism. Conclusion: In this study, the production performance, blood indexes, number of metabolites and PCA were compared to determine effect of the caging stress stage on ducks. We inferred from the experimental results that caging-stressed ducks were in the sensitive phase in the first 5 days after caging, caging for approximately 10 days was an important transition phase, and then the duck continually adapted.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.314-319
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• 2008

Duck (Anas platyrhynchos) is one of the most important domestic avian species in the world. In the present research, fifteen polymorphic microsatellite markers were used to evaluate the diversity and population structure of 26 Chinese indigenous duck breeds across the country. The Chinese breeds showed high variation with the observed heterozygosity (Ho) ranging from 0.401 (Jinding) to 0.615 (Enshi), and the expected heterozygosity (He) ranging from 0.498 (Jinding) to 0.707 (Jingjiang). In all of the breeds, the values of Ho were significantly lower than those of He, suggesting high selection pressure on these local breeds. AMOVA and Bayesian clustering analysis showed that some breeds had mixed together. The FST value for all breeds was 0.155, indicating medium differentiation of the Chinese indigenous breeds. The FST value also indicated the short domestication history of most of Chinese indigenous ducks and the admixture of these breeds after domestication. Understanding the genetic relationship and structure of these breeds will provide valuable information for further conservation and utilization of the genetic resources in ducks.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.31 no.10
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• pp.1575-1580
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• 2018

Objective: This study was conducted to estimate the genetic parameters and breeding values of breast meat related traits of Pekin ducks. Selection response was also determined by using ultrasound breast muscle thickness (BMT) measurements in combination with bosom breadth (BB) and keel length (KL) values. Methods: The traits analyzed were breast meat weight (BMW), body weight (BW), breast meat percentage (BMP) and the three parameters of breast meat (BB, KL, and BMT). These measurements were derived from studying 15,781 Pekin ducks selected from 10 generations based on breast meat weight. Genetic parameters and breeding value were estimated for the analysis of the breeding process. Results: Estimated heritability of BMW and BMP were moderate (0.23 and 0.16, respectively), and heritability of BW was high (0.48). Other traits such as BB, KL, and BMT indicated moderate heritability ranging between 0.11 and 0.28. Significant phenotypic correlations of BMW with BW and BMP were discovered (p<0.05), and genetic correlations of BMW with BW and BMP were positive and high (0.83 and 0.66, respectively). It was noted that BMW had positive correlations with all the other traits. Generational average estimated breeding values of all traits increased substantially over the course of selection, which demonstrated that the ducks responded efficiently to increased breast meat yield after 10 generations of breeding. Conclusion: The results indicated that duck BMW had the potential to be increased through genetic selection with positive effects on BW and BMP. The ultrasound BMT, in combination with the measurement of BB and KL, is shown to be essential and effective in the process of high breast meat yield duck breeding.