Body weight and breast width have been greatly increased in the modern turkey. However, the relative amounts of leg muscles and leg bones have declined. A similar decline also occurs with age. It was theorized that this is an inherent weakness that magnifies other causes of leg problems. In an attempt to increase the relative amount of leg bone, a subline (FL) was developed by mass selection for increased shank width at 16 weeks of age from a long-term growth-selected line of turkeys (F). Shank width of FL was increased greatly by selection. The realized heritability of shank width, based on the regression of accumulated selection response on accumulated selection differential, was .33 +/- .05 over five generations of selection. Body weight of males from FL increased at a rate comparable to that of F at 16 weeks of age. However, there was no comparable improvement in body weight of FL females, resulting in a significant line X sex interaction. A similar interaction was observed for body weight at 8 and 20 weeks of age in these lines. The genetic increases in shank width in FL resulted in significantly improved walking ability of males at 16 weeks of age in comparison to F, even though body weight of males from the two lines was similar. The walking ability of FL did not change relative to the control line from which F originated. Thus, large genetic increases in body weight of males can be achieved without loss in walking ability by genetic increases in shank width.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

A subline (FL) of a long-term growth-selected line (F) of turkeys was established by mass selecting solely for increased shank width at the narrowest point (dew claw). A comparison was made of bone and muscle growth in Line FL (fourth generation of selection), Line F (17th generation of selection), and a randombred control (RBC2, the base population of F) at 8, 16, and 20 wk of age. Also, a sample of the tibiotarsal and femur bones was studied histologically for evidence of pathological conditions. No significant pathological changes were observed in bones from turkeys of the different lines at the ages examined. Samples for histological study were taken at Day 1, 27, 56, 84, 112, and 140 posthatching. Genetic increases in body weight (F and FL lines) resulted in a significant decline in the relative amount of leg muscles from 16 to 20 wk of age while in Line RBC2 the relative amount of leg muscles increased slightly from 16 to 20 wk of age. This resulted in a significant line x age interaction. No significant differences in the amount of leg muscles were detected between turkeys of Lines F and FL. Amount of breast muscles increased consistently with age in all lines. Amount of breast muscles (absolute and as a percentage of body weight) was larger in Line F than in the FL and RBC2 lines. The actual weight of the breast muscles was larger in Line FL than in the RBC2 line but as a percentage of body weight there was no significant difference.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

No abstract

P RELIMINARY investigations from our department have indicated an improvement in the hatchability of coturnix eggs when the diets contained 0.38% or 0.76 % EDTA, equivalent to 0.5 % and 1.0 % EDTA-Na 2 (Craig et al., 1968). The 1 Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid. 2 Present address: Arizona Sonora Desert Museum , Tucso n, Arizona 85703.

No abstract