Reproductive and productive traits in paternal preparental Plymouth Rock line selected at the Center for Genetics & Selection “Smena”
Targeted selection of the paternal preparental line X3 of maternal line of a new broiler cross developed by the Center for Genetics & Selection “Smena” resulted in the increases in live bodyweight at 7 and 35 days of age, egg hatchability (by 2.1%), hatch of chicks (by 5.0%) in 2019 in compare to 2017. This line is a carrier of the gene of fast feathering “k”; crossing of this line with slow-feathering maternal line X4 results in the autosexing maternal parental line X34 featuring sexing accuracy 99.6%, egg production 161 eggs per season, percentage of eggs suitable for incubation 94.7%, hatch of chicks 85.2%, meat output per average hen 274.1 kg. The following productive parameters were achieved by the hybrid broilers (X1234) reared in conditions of “Sredneuralskaya” farm (9984 birds) to 39 days of age: average live bodyweight 2364 g, average daily weight gains 58.4 g, mortality 5.6%, feed conversion ratio 1.60 kg/kg, European production efficiency factor (EPEF) 334 units. Lines X3 and X34 as well as hybrids X1234 could be effectively used in the commercial broiler production.