Abstract

Duck production in Tamil Nadu is characterised by the traditional enterprise with indigenous ducks distributed widely The indigenous duck varieties of Tamil Nadu have evolved over the years with better adaptability and production potentiality These indigenous ducks are capable of laying 180-200 eggs per annum with an average egg weight ranging from 60-64 g with no additional or special feeding management The common Indian breeds genetic groups of ducks are Indian Runner Nageswari Sythetmete Kuttanad Arni etc Besides non-descript ducks are also available in large numbers in many states of the country contributing significantly to the total duck population The unique nature of this native germplasm has not been properly documented Hence the work was proposed to study morphology and morphometric analysis of distinct indigenous ducks of Tamil Nadu The duck farmers in the northern districts of Tamil Nadu are rearing two predominant varieties of ducks i e Sanyasi and Keeri Among these Sanyasi female is the popular duck variety reared by the farmers The Sanyasi female ducks are having saffron coloured plumage and males are with dark brown plumage mixed with black The bill colour of females is orange and for males it is dark yellow The shank colour is orange for both males and females The Keeri female ducks are having mixture of black and brown plumage characteristically in striations and males are with mixture of dark black and white plumage The bill colour and shank colour of females is grey Keeri male duck has dark grey yellow bill colour and oranged coloured shank Among the recorded morphometric traits differences were noticed between the sexes and no significant differences were noticed between varieties