Universitas Muhammadiyah Malang

Our knowledge of hens’ reproductive breeding value is limited upon selecting birds for flock reproduction

Influence of two sources of information on the accuracy of fertility and hatchability proofs in laying
hens was studied on a Rhode Island White-based maternal strain record. Five- or three-generation
pedigree and including or not including the laying performance as correlated traits were varied to create four variants of analysis tested against the reference – five-generation, multiple-trait, and post factum reproduction record of the selected generation. The upper limit of the rank correlation between the reference ranking and the best possible ranking reached 0.9. A significant increase in the accordance of the BLUP proof rankings with the reference one was attributed to the multiple-trait approach while the pedigree depth exerted a lesser impact on the reproduction proof accuracy. It is concluded that, with low heritable reproduction traits, five-generation pedigree should be recommended to the threegeneration pedigree and the laying performance, possibly enriched with other early recorded traits, should accompany the breeding value prediction of the reproduction complex.

Date Deposited : 06 Aug 2011 11:03

Last Modified : 06 Aug 2011 11:03

Volume 26, Number 1, - 2008