Abstract
YELLOW pigmentation in the chicken skin and shank is influenced by environmental and genetic factors. Bird (1952) reported that coccidiosis and respiratory diseases were deterrents to pigmentation. Collins et al. (1955) noted differences in pigmentation associated with hatch date. Bateson (1902), Hurst (1905) and Dunn (1925) investigated the genetics of skin color and established that white skin (W) was autosomal and dominant to yellow (ww) skin.According to Wagner and Mitchell (1964) the mode of inheritance of carotenoid deposition is poorly understood. Hutt (1949) concluded that in chickens the dominant gene for white skin restricted entry of xanthophyll pigment into the skin, but not into other tissues. Goodwin (1954) and Fritz and Wharton (1957) showed that xanthophyll and xanthophyll lutein, respectively, were the principal natural yellow pigments of the chicken skin and shank. Genetic studies involving yellow-skinned (ww) chickens only, have indicated that genotype and sex influence the subjective score…
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