Phenotypic characterization of chicken inbred lines that differ extremely in growth, body composition and egg production traits

摘要

The development of phenotypically and genetically divergent inbred chicken lines assimplified genetic models facilitates the identification of genes and contributes to theelucidation of gene functions. In this study, we characterized a New Hampshire (NH)population with its partial inbred derivative, New Hampshire inbred (NHI), and a WhiteLeghorn inbred line (WL77). Both NHI and WL77 lines were inbred after selection for highmeat yield or low egg weight, respectively. The inbreeding levels in NHI and WL77 areabout 86 % and 100 %, respectively. Animals of the NHI line grew twice as fast, wereabout two times as heavy at 20 weeks, and deposited 9.3 times as much fat as WL77. NHIfemales reached sexual maturity, indicated by age at first egg, earlier, had a 35 % higheregg production ratio, and their eggs were on average 6 g heavier compared to WL77females. The NHI and WL77 lines were extremely different for most traits, which makesthem suitable for cross-bred experiments to map quantitative trait loci and identify genescontributing to the observed differences.