The Relationship between Male and Female Genotypes for Juvenile Body Weight and Weight Gain in Broiler Chickens

Abstract

The objectives of this study were to examine the relationship between male and female genotypes for the juvenile body weight and weight gain in broiler chickens and to examine its effect on the response to selection.
The data were collected from 1, 805 male and female chickens belonging to 317 sire groups of four breeding populations over four generations. The traits analysed were body weight at six and nine weeks of age and body weight gain from six to nine weeks of age.
Genetic correlations of the same traits mentioned above between male and female sibs were estimated to be different among populations, which suggested that artificial selection for different breeding objectives might be responsible for differential genetic correlations among those populations.