Study On Breeding Behavior And Reproductive Performance Of Shan Partridge Duck With Different Male/female Ratio And Number In Mating Cages

China is the biggest market in duck production and consumption.The traditional methods of laying duck rearing all depend on water resources.Therefore,it is difficult to collect the excrement of ducks,and space utilization is relatively low.In recent years,the cage-rearing methods of laying ducks have been tested and gradually adopted.The mating cage-rearing model is a kind of cage-rearing method in which male and female ducks are mixed together and propagated through natural mating.Reared Shan partridge ducks of different number and male/female ratio in mating cages to explore the breeding behavior and reproductive performance.The results can be used as the reference to rear laying duck in mating cages.A total of 14 male ducks and 88 female ducks were randomly divided into four groups by different male/female ratio and number,with two repeats in each.The male/female ratio and number of groups 1 to 4 were respectively 1:5,1:8,3:15,and 2:16.A camera was installed above the sides of each cage to observe the breeding behavior of ducks,and all cameras in each group worked all day for 5 days.The eggs were collected for hatching and the fertilization rate of each group was calculated.The weight of male and female ducks and the semen quality of male ducks were determined by the end of this experiment,the main results are as follows:1.Breeding behavior of laying duck in mating cagesThe breeding behavior of duck observed and counted in this study mainly included courtship behavior,mating behavior,mating interference behavior and homosexual mating behavior.Courtship types were including initiative courtship of male ducks,which was the main type of duck courtship,and initiative courtship of female ducks.The maximum mating times for a male duck was 23 times a day.The daily breeding behavior of each male duck and each female duck is as follows:male ducks had courtship behavior（13.4±6.2）times/day and mating behavior（10.2±4.8）times/day on average;female ducks had courtship behavior（2.1±1.7）times/day and mating behavior（1.6±1.5）times/day on average.Both times of initiative courtship and mating of male ducks were respectively（16.64±21.26）s and（18.40±14.32）s,and both times of initiative courtship and mating of female ducks were respectively（25.26±21.54）s and（19.23±17.78）s.Both times of initiative courtship and mating of male ducks were shorter than that of female ducks.Mating interfere behavior is the main cause of mating failure and the mating success rate at night was significantly greater than that during the day.When the number of male and female exceeded 1:5 and the mating interfere rate was high,the mating times were significantly negatively correlated with the mating success rate（r_p=-0.598^*,P<0.05）and extremely significantly positively correlated with the interfere success rate(r_p=0.725^**,P<0.01).The shorter the mating time of male duck,the lower the interfere success rate and the higher the mating success rate.Male ducks dominated courtship and mating behavior.Male ducks had certain selectivity to different female ducks and different male ducks had different performance on the same female duck.In addition to the normal courtship and mating behaviors,ducks also had more frequent courtship and mating behaviors among female ducks and fewer courtship and mating behaviors among male duck.Courtship and mating behavior had three peak periods each day,4:00～7:00,10:00～14:00,19:00～20:00.The breeder should try to stagger these three peak periods in practical duck production and management.The weight of male and female ducks and the semen quality of male ducks had no obvious influence on breeding behavior of ducks.2.Comparison of breeding behavior and reproductive performance in each groupThe average number of mating times and mating success rate of male ducks and female ducks in group 1 were significantly greater than those in group 2 to 4（P<0.05）.The courtship time and mating time in group 1 were extremely significantly higher than those in groups 3and 4（P<0.01）,and there was no significant difference from group 2（P>0.05）.There was no significant difference in mating times and the success rate of mating among groups 2 to4 per day（P>0.05）.Although the breeding behavior of ducks in group 1 was much more active than that in groups 2 to 4,each group achieved a fertilization rate of more than 90%of the eggs,and there was no significant difference in the fertilization rate of the eggs in each group（P>0.05）.However,the laying rate in group 1 was extremely significantly lower than that in group 2 to 4（P<0.01）.To sum up,ducks showed very active and abundant breeding behavior in mating cages,and the fertilization effect was good.The maximum number of mating times for a male duck was 23 times a day indicated that there is a very high development potential to rear ducks in mating cages.When the male/female ratio and number of ducks are 1:8,3:15,2:16,ducks can achieve high reproductive performance.