Fasting/refeeding: an experimental model to study the impact of early thermal manipulation on hepatic metabolism in mule ducks.

An increase in egg incubation temperature was previously shown to enhance the metabolism of mule ducks and increase liver fattening after overfeeding, through a metabolic programming mechanism. Here, we examined whether fasting (F) followed by refeeding (RF) in 11-wk-old mule ducks could become an accelerated model to study the mechanisms of metabolic programming following embryonic thermal manipulation. This study investigated the hepatic response of mule ducks subjected to 23 h of fasting and 1 h of refeeding, in control or thermally programmed animals (with an increase of 1°C, 16 h per day from to of embryogenesis).

Identification of different critical embryonic periods to modify egg incubation temperature in mule ducks.

Egg incubation of mule ducks, mainly used for fatty liver production, is one of the critical phases in this sector. Based on hatching rate, the best incubation parameters have already been well described for poultry, but the literature on ducks is lacking. In this study, we tested different incubation conditions by varying two important factors, temperature and relative humidity, in mule ducks.

Dietary methionine deficiency reduces laying performances of female common ducks and impacts traits of interest of their mule ducklings.

The effects of maternal nutrition on offspring phenotypes have been mainly documented over the past years in mammals, and are now studied in poultry as well. In the present study, we investigated the effects of a reduced level of dietary Methionine (Met) on laying performances of common laying ducks and their impacts on the phenotype of their mule ducklings. A total of 60 female laying ducks were divided into 2 dietary treatments at 10 wk of age.