Heritability Of Growth Traits Research Articles

Long-term selection for meat production in poultry

ABSTRACTSelection for meat production in poultry includes commercial development of meat-type chickens, turkeys and waterfowl and laboratory studies that involve these types of poultry. Heritabilities for growth traits are moderate to high, enabling response to selection for these traits. Changes in growth traits result in correlated responses in feed intake and have a negative relationship with reproductive traits. That is, deviations from intermediate growth rates are deleterious to reproduction. In this paper we discuss genetic aspects of poultry meat production and long-term laboratory selection experiments for growth. Emphasis is given to the species with the most extensive research base, the chicken.