Title: Determination Effects of Slow (K) and Fast (k+) Feathering Gene on Egg Production and Hatching Traits in Laying Hens
Abstract:Background and Objective: The sex determination of pure lines of one-day-old chicks was achieved by vent-sexing which has some challenges and the risks, so it was decided that the sex determination of...Background and Objective: The sex determination of pure lines of one-day-old chicks was achieved by vent-sexing which has some challenges and the risks, so it was decided that the sex determination of chicks by the feathering rate should be used.In the present study, fast-and slow-feathering of RIR, BAR and L54 genotypes were developed and investigated the effect of feathering rate on egg production and hatching traits.Materials and Methods: Data of body weight and age at first egg, egg number and egg weight up to 43 weeks age were collected from total of 10717 hens and analysed.The following genetic parameters were estimated from a three generation selection study: Age at first egg (AFE), Body Weight at First Egg (BWFE), Egg Number (EN) and Egg Weight (EW) by the Restricted Maximum Likelihood (REML) procedure.Statistical evaluation was performed using one-way analysis of variance and genetic parameters were estimated by the restricted maximum likelihood (REML) procedure for egg production and hatching traits.Results: Mean egg production trait values were determined as follows: 149.42-161.29 days (AFE), 1562.90-1748.10g (BWFE) 117.54-129.36eggs (EN) and 54.70-58.93g (EW).Statistically significant differences (p<0.01) were observed between the genotype groups according to the fertility, embryonic mortality and hatchability values.Predicted heritabilityʼs for egg production traits ranged from 0.11-0.59and it was determined that AFE was positively correlated with BWFE except for L54-F and L54-S.The EN was negatively correlated with AFE, BWFE and EW in all genotypes.The AFE was negatively correlated with EW except for RIR-F and L54-S.The BWFE was positively correlated with EW except for RIR-F and RIR-F genotypes.Conclusion: The results of this study showed that one-day-old hybrid chicks from fast-and slow-feathering parent genotypes can be accurately sexed by feathering rate.It was observed that fast-feathering genotypes were generally higher than slow ones with respect to egg production and hatching traits, with the exception of egg weight.Read More