Sources of Variation in the Cornell Controls at Two Locations

Abstract

INTRODUCTIONGENOTYPE by environment interactions, if they exist as a significant portion of the total variation in economic traits, create difficult problems in the design of efficient control populations and selection programs. Although poultry breeders and investigators dealing with selection problems have recognized the possible existence of these interactions for some time, only recently have estimates of their importance begun to be brought to light.Munroe (1936) suggested the possibility of genotype-environment interactions in poultry. However, many investigators, including Gutteridge and O’Neil (1942), King et al. (1952) Gowe and Wakely (1954), Lowry et al. (1956), Abplanalp (1956), Proudfoot et al. (1957), McBride (1962), Becker (1961) and Proudfoot (1962), either found no such interactions or found them to be of little importance. Significant interactions were found by Osborn (1952), Skaller and Sheldon (1955), Gowe (1956), Merritt and Gowe (1956), Hill and Nordskog (1956), Huston and Joiner (1957), Johnson and Asmundson (1957),…