Chapter 29 - Correlations between plasma glucose and adiposity in genetically fat and lean chickens

Abstract

This chapter examines the correlations between plasma glucose and adiposity in genetically fat and lean chickens. Body weight, abdominal fat as a proportion of live body weight, and fasted plasma glucose level were measured in parents and progeny at 52 weeks of age in birds of the F6 generation of meat-type chickens selected for fatness or leanness . In 1985, 67 pairs of lean line (LL) and 46 pairs of fat line (FL) were utilized. In 1986, 72 pairs of each line were utilized. The divergence of fasted plasma glucose levels and proportion of abdominal fat were reaffirmed. Phenotypic correlations between fasted plasma glucose values and proportion of abdominal fat were, for the parent LL and FL, 0.77 and 0.41 respectively; for the progeny, negatively correlated. In contrast, genotypic correlations between parents and progeny for these traits approached zero. Thus, the lack of genotypic correlation in the study can be attributed to the age of the birds at the time of measurement.