CORRELATED RESPONSES IN EGG QUALITY TRAITS TO SELECTION FOR EARLY BODY WEIGHT IN MEAT-TYPE CHICKENS

Abstract

The correlated responses in egg quality traits to selection for high early body weight were studied in seven meat-type populations comprising five selected and two control lines. Traits studied were specific gravity, egg weight, albumen height, Haugh units, shell color, egg shape, shell roughness, wrinkling and asymmetry, and incidence of blood spots, meat spots and double yolks. Significant (P < 0.05 or < 0.01) correlated changes, as determined by the regression of correlated response (egg quality traits) on primary response (body weight), were obtained for egg weight, albumen height, Haugh units, asymmetry of shell and blood spots. All but blood spots increased with selection for high body weight. Shell color showed a consistent trend towards a darker color with increasing body weight. Scores for roughness of shell and, with one minor exception, the incidence of double yolks, also showed consistent trends (positive) with increasing body weight. Estimates of genetic correlations, derived directly from intra-line genetic analyses of the six pedigreed populations in the experiment, were in most cases in reasonable agreement with realized estimates.