[The effect of hybridization on the embryonic germ cell population and the young females produced by the crossing of a male Peking duck with a female Barbary duck (Anas platyrhynchos x Cairina moschata)].

Ovarian development has been studied in a hybrid duck (Anas platyrhynchos male x Cairina moschata female) and in females of the parental Peking and Barbary species. In the hybrid, the gonadal ridge when it first forms is smaller than in either parental species, and after 16 days of incubation there is less cortical growth and less oogonial proliferation. At hatching, the left ovary of the hybrid contains fewer follicles, perhaps because the reduced size of the hybrid gonadal ridge limits germ cell colonization. However, the hybrid follicles develop very rapidly after hatching, and laying begins earlier in the hybrid than in Peking and Barbary ducks.