Abstract: To investigate the effect of age on fat deposition in sheldrake ducks and the influence of intramuscular fat on meat quality, four groups of Shaoxing sheldrake ducks of different ages were selected. Fat disposition and meat quality were investigated by measuring intramuscular fat content, subcutaneous fat content, abdominal fat percentage, pH, shear force, and cooking loss. In order to understand the relationship between the expression of CIDEa, FAS and ATGL genes and fat disposition, the fluorescence values and expression levels of these genes were measured by using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). The results showed that the fat content significantly rose with increasing age (P < 0.05), and the intramuscular fat content was positively correlated with the change in pH and shear force value and negatively correlated with the change in cooking loss. The expression levels of CIDEa and FAS genes were higher in fat-rich tissues, and CIDEa gene expression was significantly higher in older ducks (P < 0.05). The findings of this study can provide a theoretical basis for understanding the effect of age on fat disposition in sheldrake ducks and the influence of intramuscular fat on meat quality.

Key words: sheldrake duck, fat deposition, related genes, meat quality