Phenotypic Correlation of Body Weight and Linear Body Measurements in Muscovy (Cairinia Moschata) and Mallard (Anas Platyrhynchos) Ducks

Abstract

Data on body weight and linear body measurements (LBMs) namely body height (BH), body length (BL), breast circumference (BC), thigh length (TL), bill length (BiL), wing length (WL) and shank length (SL) were taken from 120 ducks (i. e. 60 Muscovy and 60 Mallard ducks) at 4 and 8 weeks of age were analysed to obtain the phenotypic correlation between LBMs and body weight. The value of the pearson’s linear correlation coefficient to determine the level of relationship between the body weight and linear body measurement. This ranged from 0.488 (SL) – 0.996 (BH) and (0.729 (SL) – 0.996 (Bil) in Muscovy and Mallard duck at week 4 respectively. While, at week 8, the value of the pearson’s linear correlation coefficient ranges from 0.126 (Bil) – 0.960 (BL) and 0.735(BC) – 0.978 (BH) respectively. This positive and mostly significantly phenotypic relationship between the body weight and linear body measurements indicates that an improvement in one trait could leads to an improvement in the other. Correlation coefficients indicate the strength of a linear relation between traits and thus provide useful information about the traits involved for the purpose of breeding and improvement plan. This shows that favourable relationships exist among traits that have higher correlation coefficients, it further explains that such traits could be collectively included in the selection index to achieve positive phenotypic progress.