Domestic duck

Type of poultry

The domestic duck (Anas platyrhynchos domesticus) is a subspecies of mallard that has been domesticated and raised for meat and eggs. A few are kept for show, as pets, or for their ornamental value. Almost all varieties of domesticated ducks, apart from the domestic Muscovy duck (Cairina moschata), are descended from the mallard, which was domesticated in China around 2000 BC. Duck farming is simplified by their reliable flocking behaviour, and their ability to forage effectively for themselves. Over 80% of global duck production is in China. Breeds such as White Pekin are raised for meat, while the prolific Indian Runner can produce over 300 eggs per year. In East and Southeast Asia, polycultures such as rice duck farming are widely practised: the ducks assist the rice with manure and by eating small pest animals, so that the same land produces rice and ducks at once. In culture, ducks feature in children's stories such as The Tale of Jemima Puddle Duck, and in Sergei Prokofiev's musical composition Peter and the Wolf; they have appeared in art since the time of ancient Egypt, where they served as a fertility symbol.

Domestic ducks appear from whole genome sequencing to originate from a single domestication event of mallards during the Neolithic, followed by rapid selection for lineages favouring meat or egg production. They were probably domesticated in Southern China around 2000 BC

Wild ducks were hunted extensively in Ancient Egypt and other parts of the world in ancient times, but were not domesticated. Ducks are documented in Ancient Rome from the second century BC, but descriptions – such as by Columella – suggest that ducks in Roman agriculture were tamed, not domesticated; there was no duck breeding in Roman times, so eggs from wild ducks were needed to start duck farms.

Ducks have been farmed for thousands of years.

[[File:Ducks (6337601928). jpg|thumb|Ducks with free access to rice paddies in Bali, Indonesia provide additional income and manure the fields, reducing the need for fertilizer.

thumb|A freshwater shrimp with an acanthocephalan (orange) in its body cavity. Ducks eat the shrimps and become infected with the parasites. Domestic ducks have the advantage over other poultry of being strongly resistant to many bird diseases, including such serious conditions as duck plague (viral enteritis). They are however susceptible to the dangerous H5N1 strain of avian influenza. Ducks are subject to ectoparasites such as lice and endoparasites such as trematodes, cestodes, and acanthocephalans. A high parasitic load can result in a substantial reduction in the ducks' growth rate.

In 2021 approximately 4.3 billion ducks were slaughtered for meat worldwide, for a total yield of about 6.2 million tonnes; over 80% of this production was in China, where more than 3.6 billion ducks were killed, yielding some 4.9 million tonnes of meat. Worldwide production of duck meat was substantially lower than that of chicken – 73.8 billion birds slaughtered, 121.6 million tonnes – but considerably greater than that of geese – about 750 million birds killed for 4.4 million tonnes of meat. Feathers are a by product of duck farming.

Since ancient times, the duck has been eaten as food. Usually only the breast and thigh meat is eaten. It does not need to be hung before preparation, and is often braised or roasted, sometimes flavoured with bitter orange or with port. Peking duck is a dish of roast duck from Beijing, China, that has been prepared since medieval times. It is today traditionally served with spring pancakes, spring onions and sweet bean sauce.

In France, ducks are used for the production of foie gras de canard. In some cultures the blood of ducks slaughtered for meat is used as food; it may be eaten seasoned and lightly cooked, as in Ireland, or be used as an ingredient, as in a number of regional types of blood soup, among them the czarnina of Poland and the tiết canh of Vietnam. Duck eggs are eaten mainly in Asian countries such as China; in the Philippines, balut – a fertilised duck egg at about 17 days of development, boiled and eaten with salt – is considered a delicacy and is sold as street food.

Domestic ducks are frequently depicted in wall paintings and grave objects from ancient Egypt. They are featured in a range of ancient artefacts, which revealed that they were a fertility symbol.