Growth Rate Inheritance in Japanese Quail: 4. Body Composition Following Four Generations of Selection Under Different Nutritional Environments

Abstract

WHILE selection can dramatically alter body weight, relatively little information is available regarding concurrent changes in tissue composition. Fowler (1958) and Timon et al. (1970) found that selection for increased body weight in mice increased the rate of fat deposition. With the advent of selection under different environments, examination of possible changes in body composition becomes increasingly important. This is particularly true when different planes of nutrition are used as the environmental variables. Falconer and Latyszewski (1952) reported that mice selected on a restricted diet had less fat than mice selected on a full diet.The present study was designed to measure differences in body composition of quail lines undergoing selection on a conventional 28 percent protein diet (P population) and on a 20 percent protein diet containing 0.2 percent thiouracil (T population). The early responses to selection for these lines have been reported by Marks and Lepore (1968) Herein…