Eighty Pekin ducks from P44 and P55 flocks – 20 males and 20 females from each line were studied. Ducks were penned in a confined facility on deep litter and fed ad libitum commercial diets for waterfowl. Compared to P55 ducks, P44 ducks had greater body weight at 8 weeks of age (3396 vs. 3333 g) and significantly longer keel (14.4 vs. 13.8 cm). P44 ducks used less feed per kg body weight (2.46 kg) and were characterized by a higher European Production Index (241 points) compared to P55 ducks (2.58 kg and 225 points). Dressing percentage was high (67.8% in P44 and 67.5% in P55 ducks). Compared to P55 ducks, the carcasses of P44 ducks had a higher content of skin with subcutaneous fat (31.7% vs. 30.0%) and abdominal fat (1.7 vs. 1.4%), and a slightly lower content of the other carcass components, including breast muscles (13.2 vs. 13.7%) and leg muscles (12.2 vs. 12.6%).

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