This study was conducted to develop a new synthetic breed of Korean native chicken. The combining ability and reciprocal effects for production traits were estimated on 1,157 hens from a 5 × 5 diallel cross-mating design using grand parent stock (GPS) lines of Korean native chicken. Body weight, viability, age at first egg laying, egg weight, and hen-day egg production were measured and analyzed. The results showed that the general combining ability (GCA) of the survival rate during laying periods was -9.6 to 11.1, with the highest value obtained in the W strain. Additionally, the GCA of the body weight at 12 weeks was -209.7 to 162.2, with the highest value obtained in the F strain. The GCA for age at fist egg laying was estimated to be -2.8 to 3.7, while the GCA of egg weight was -0.91 to 0.96, and the GCA of hen-day egg production was -4.9 to 6.0. In the estimation of specific combining ability, the YW combination showed the highest survival rate, FW showed the highest body weight at 12 weeks, and GW showed the highest hen-day egg production. The reciprocal effects were significantly different among crosses for almost all productivity traits. In identical breeding combinations, differences in ability were observed when the maternal or paternal breeds were switched. The mean value based on combining ability was higher in WY, WF, and GW combinations for survival rate; GF, HG, and HF combinations for body weight at 12 weeks; and GW, YW, and FW combinations for hen-day egg production. It is concluded that the GF and HF combinations, which have excellent growth performance and moderate survival rate, are the most desirable paternal parent stock (PS) strains, and the GW and FW combinations, which have great laying performance and moderate body weight, are the most desirable maternal PS strains.

This study was conducted to establish new synthetic lines of Korean Native Chicken. We performed 5×5 diallel crossings with GPS lines of Korean Native Chicken for the selection of parent stock. The production traits including viability, body weight, age at first egg laying, egg weight, hen-day egg production, and hen-housed egg production were measured and analyzed for 25 crosses with 1,157 hens. The heterosis effects of these traits were also estimated. The results showed that the average survival rate during laying periods was 67.7% in the pure lines and 77.1% in the crosses. The 25 cross combinations were shown to be distinctly divided into three groups according to body weight; nine crosses in the high-weight group, 12 crosses in the medium-weight group and four crosses in the light-weight group. The average body weight at 12 weeks of age was 1,873.8 ±43.0 g in the high group, 1,595.4±56.6 g in the medium group and 1,152.7±24.7 g in the light group, and 1,560.2±339.3 g in the pure lines and 1,640.9±213.7 g in the crosses. In terms of egg production performance, the age at first egg laying was 139.7±4.9 days in the pure lines and 135.8±5.1 days in the crosses. The average egg weight was 52.3±1.6 g in the pure line and 53.0±1.6g in the crosses. The average hen-housed egg production from 20 to 40 weeks was 58.3±12.9 eggs in the pure line and 69.2±10.4 eggs in the crosses. The average heterosis effect was 16.9% for survival rate, 5.4% for body weight at 12 weeks, -2.7% for age at first egg laying, 1.3% for egg weight, and 14.3% for hen-day egg production. Generally, the heterosis effect for viability and egg production traits was higher than that for growth trait. On the basis of these results, it is expected that the selection of the HF combination, which had excellent growth performance, is the most desirable as the paternal strain, and the selection of GW and FW combinations, which had excellent laying performance, are preferable as the maternal strain.(Key words : Korean Native Chicken, heterosis, production performance, diallel cross mating) † To whom correspondence should be addressed : shsohn@gntech.ac.kr

In this study, viability, growth performance and egg production performance were investigated to determine the productive characteristics of 12 Korean domestic chicken varieties which have been collected and conserved for over 25 years in National Institute of Animal Science, Rural Development Administration, Korea. The 1,134 hens were tested and their production traits including survival rate, body weight, age at first egg laying, hen-day and hen-housed egg production, egg weight, and egg quality were measured. Survival rate was the highest in Korean Rhode-D and Korean Native Chicken (KNC) White and the lowest in Korean Cornish Brown (92.2% and 54.3%, respectively). Body weights from 4 to 50 wks were consistently high in the order of Korean Cornish, Korean Rhode, KNC, Korean Ogye, and Korean Leghorn breeds. There was no significant difference in weight between varieties within a breed. Age at first egg laying was the shortest in Korean Leghorn, while it was the longest in Korean Cornish. The hen-day egg production from 1 st egg to 57 wks was the highest in Korean Leghorn-K, and the lowest in Korean Cornish Brown. Egg weight was the heaviest in Korean Leghorn-F and the lightest in KNC White. The Haugh unit was the highest in Korean Rhode-C and the lowest in Korean Ogye. Taken together, these results suggest that it is desirable that the Korean Cornish variety is improved as the Korean meat breed because of its excellent growth ability, the Korean Leghorn variety is improved as the Korean layer breed because of its good laying performance, and the Korean Rhode and KNC varieties are improved as strong viable breeds because of their good survival rate.

This study was to investigate the effect of chick weight in the early growth period on market-weight of Korean native chickens (KNCs). We measured the body weights of 1,087 chickens (male 479, female 608) of 13 KNC strains at 1-84 days of age at two week intervals. The growth performance of the 13 KNC strains was investigated. Correlation coefficients among the weights of chickens in each growth period and regression of market-weight on early chick weights were analyzed. The results showed that the average body weight of 70-day-old KNCs was 1,962g: 2,154g and 1,819.7g for males and females, respectively. The equation for regression of body weight on age was estimated as  =0.1347X Using this regression equation, the duration required to attain a KNC market-weight of 2 kg was estimated as 71.8 days. All the correlation coefficients between early chick weight and market-weight were significantly positive. Although the correlation coefficients among the chick weights in each growth period decreased with increase in age interval, early growth weight had a significant effect on late growth performance. The correlation coefficient between market-weight at 70-days and chick weight at 1-day was estimated to be a low as 0.10-0.13. In the estimations of market-weight correlation coefficients, correlation coefficient and coefficient of determination were high in the female and male chicks after 28-days and 42-days of age, respectively. The results of the analysis of correlation and regression between early chick weight and market-weight of KNCs showed that market-weight could be predicted based on the weights of 28-day-old females and 42-day-old males.(Key words: early chick weight, market-weight, correlation coefficient, regression analysis, Korean native chicken) † To whom correspondence should be addressed : shsohn@gntech.ac.kr (Ohh et al., 1985;Willemsen et al., 2008), 산란계 역시 발생체중이 이후 12주 및 18주 체중에 유의한 영향을 미친다고 하였다 (Deaton et al., 1979). 또한 종란의 무게와 출하체중 간에 유의한 정(+)의 상관이 있어 품종 및 성별과 관계없이 종란의 무게가 부화 후 성장에 밀접한 영 향을 미치고 (Tindell and Morris, 1964;Proudfoot and Hulan, 1981;Whiting and Pesti, 1984), 특히 종란의 무게와 발생체 중 간에는 고도의 유의한 정의 상관관계를 가지며, 이후 주령

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