Color Mutations in
Wood Ducks and Mandarins:
Genotype Through Punnett Squares

I have included the possibilities for passing silver and white or apricot or blondin Wood ducks and white or blond in Mandarins as I understand the routes for transfer. It has been a while since I have done anything with genetics (graduate school in the 60s), but I had posed the question of the color genetics of Wood ducks to Mike Bean, a geneticist/aviculturist, when he was at Livingston-Ripley several years ago. Using what I learned from Mike and found through a thread on the gbwf Message Board I have developed the following explanation/illustration.

Premise: Silver is an autosomal recessive trait while white, apricot or blond are sex-linked recessive traits.

The bottom line is that two split silver Wood ducks theoretically producing four offspring will produce one silver and three normal ducklings. The kicker is that one of the three theoretical normal looking ducks does not carry the silver gene. It is in fact a normal, but there is no way to differentiate the normal looking ducks by eye sight, only test crosses or possibly DNA analysis.

White, apricot, or blond are a whole different bag, but they apparently transfer in the same way. For the purposes of this presentation white will be the focus. The male has two X chromosomes with a color capability on each. The female has an X and a Y chromosome, but only the X has a color capability. Males can have two genes for normal, one gene for normal and one for white (split), or two genes for white. White, a recessive, only shows when there is no gene for normal present. Since the female has only one X chromosome she can only be normal or white. Thus a split white female is impossible. The female duck believed to be a split is really a normal duck like any other normal duck. Note also that the cross between the split white male and the normal female will produce both normal and split white males with no way to distinguish between the two. The normal female in this cross is the same as the one described above.

Silver - A recessive gene determining the silver color in Wood Ducks.

Genetic Possibilities Male or Female	Normal	Split Silver	Silver
Genetic Possibilities Male or Female	CC	Cc	cc

Silver Male and Silver Female
Male appears silver, Female appears Silver		Male
c Silver Gene	c Silver Gene
Female	c Silver Gene	cc Silver Duckling	cc Silver Duckling
c Silver Gene	cc Silver Duckling	cc Silver Duckling

Silver Male and Normal Female
Male appears silver, Female appears Normal, no silver gene		Male
c Silver Gene	c Silver Gene
Female	C Normal Gene	Cc Split Silver Duckling	Cc Split Silver Duckling
C Normal Gene	Cc Split Silver Duckling	Cc Split Silver Duckling

Normal Male and Silver Female
Male appears Normal, no silver gene, Female appears Normal		Male
C Normal Gene	C Normal Gene
Female	c Silver Gene	Cc Split Silver Duckling	Cc Split Silver Duckling
c Silver Gene	Cc Split Silver Duckling	Cc Split Silver Duckling

Silver Male and Split Silver Female
Male appears silver, Female appears Normal, carries silver gene		Male
c Silver Gene	c Silver Gene
Female	C Normal Gene	Cc Split Silver Duckling	Cc Split Silver Duckling
c Silver Gene	cc Silver Duckling	cc Silver Duckling

Split Silver Male and Silver Female
Male appears Normal, carries silver gene, Female appears Silver		Male
C Normal Gene	c Silver Gene
Female	c Silver Gene	Cc Split Silver Duckling	cc Silver Duckling
c Silver Gene	Cc Split Silver Duckling	cc Silver Duckling

Split Silver Male and Split Silver Female
Male and Female Both Appear Normal, but carry silver gene		Male
C Normal Gene	c Silver Gene
Female	C Normal Gene	CC Normal Duckling	Cc Split Silver Duckling
c Silver Gene	Cc Split Silver Duckling	cc Silver Duckling

White - A sex-linked recessive gene determining the white color in Wood Ducks and Mandarins. Apricot and blond are transferred in the same way as white.

Genetic Possibilities: White or Apricot	Normal Male	White Male	Split White Male	Normal Female	White Female	Split White Female
Genetic Possibilities: White or Apricot	X^CX^C	X^cX^c	X^CX^c	X^CY	X^cY	Impossible

White Male and White Female
Male appears White, Female appears White, neither has genes for normal		Male
X^c White Gene	X^c White Gene
Female	X^c White Gene	X^cX^c White Male Duckling	X^cX^c White Male Duckling
Y	X^cY White Female Duckling	X^cY White Female Duckling

White Male and Normal Female
Male appears White Female appears Normal, no white gene		Male
X^c White Gene	X^c White Gene
Female	X^C Normal Gene	X^cX^C Split White Male Duckling	X^cX^C Split White Male Duckling
Y	X^cY White Female Duckling	X^cY White Female Duckling

Split White Male and Normal Female
Male appears Normal, carries white gene, Female appears Normal, carries no white gene		Male
X^C Normal Gene	X^c White Gene
Female	X^C Normal Gene	X^CX^C Normal Male Duckling	X^cX^C Split White Male Duckling
Y	X^CY Normal Female Duckling	X^cY White Female Duckling

Split White Male and White Female
Male appears Normal, carries white gene Female appears White		Male
X^C White Gene	X^c White Gene
Female	X^c White Gene	X^CX^c Split White Male Duckling	X^cX^c White Male Duckling
Y	X^CY Normal Female Duckling	X^cY White Female Duckling

A more complex model involving both autosomal chromosomes (silver) and sex chromosomes (white or apricot) can be found at:

Aix Genetics: Wood Ducks and Mandarins Gone Wild

Other "Reaching For Your Head, Rather Than Your Pocketbook" Ideas

Can Be Found At: Fowl Ideas For The Aviculturist

For more information please contact:

Maurice Houston Field
Professor Emeritus of Science Education and
Curator, Waterfowl of Chenoa
mfield@utm.edu

This file was placed in service 01/11/2007.

The University of Tennessee at Martin is not responsible for the information or views expressed here.

Last Modified Saturday, 26-Apr-2008 13:07:40 CDT

Color Mutations inWood Ducks and Mandarins:Genotype Through Punnett Squares

Color Mutations in
Wood Ducks and Mandarins:
Genotype Through Punnett Squares