The Effect of Housing System and Gender on Relative Brain Weight, Body Temperature, Hematological Traits, and Bone Quality in Muscovy Ducks
Ondřej Krunt,
Adam Kraus,
Lukáš Zita,
Karolína Machová,
Eva Chmelíková,
Stanislav Petrásek,
Petr Novák
Affiliations
Ondřej Krunt
Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agrobiology, Food and Natural Resources, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, 165 00 Prague, Czech Republic
Adam Kraus
Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agrobiology, Food and Natural Resources, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, 165 00 Prague, Czech Republic
Lukáš Zita
Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agrobiology, Food and Natural Resources, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, 165 00 Prague, Czech Republic
Karolína Machová
Department of Genetics and Breeding, Faculty of Agrobiology, Food and Natural Resources, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Kamýcká 129, 165 00 Prague, Czech Republic
Eva Chmelíková
Department of Veterinary Sciences, Faculty of Agrobiology, Food and Natural Resources, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Kamýcká 129, 165 00 Prague, Czech Republic
Stanislav Petrásek
Department of Agricultural Machines, Faculty of Engineering, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Kamýcká 129, 165 00 Prague, Czech Republic
Petr Novák
Department of Agricultural Machines, Faculty of Engineering, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Kamýcká 129, 165 00 Prague, Czech Republic
The study was conducted during the summer season (June–August 2020). Two hundred sixty-four 5-week-old sexed Muscovy ducklings were randomly divided into four equal experimental groups by housing system and by gender. Each group had three replicates (22 birds/replicate) in a randomized design experiment. Regarding the hematological traits, the volume of leukocytes was higher in the D group (by 0.34 × 109/L; p p p p p < 0.05). In terms of bone quality, there were no differences in studied parameters of tibia and femur bones regarding housing systems. The results provide valuable evidence of differences in the fattening of intensively bred Muscovy ducks within the housing system but also regarding gender.
