Genotype- Environment Interaction in Broiler Production

Abstract

The present study was carried out using two broiler breeder strains imported from Germany (Sena (SS) and Lohmann (LL)) to find out the best mating combinations. The strains used either as a package matings or cross mating by exchanging the male for each strain. So as the breeding companies usually recommended using their strains as a package mating. The objectives of this study were to compare the performance of the pure and the cross matings and to test the interaction between those genotypes and different levels of dietary protein and the effect of the interaction on their performance. The study also aimed to investigate genotype effect on hatchability to find out the best period where geneticimprovement may take place. The performance of the broilers produced from the different genotypes were evaluated using the following traits: mortality, feed consumption, feed conversion, body weight, weight gain and the European efficiency factor in addition to feed cost to produce one kg of live weight. Heterosis effect of cross genotypes and superiority over the female strain were also evaluated. The study objected to predict body weight at market age using day old chick weight, three-week body weight or both. At last the study aimed to investigate the effect of genotype on carcass yield and calculate the correlation coefficients between carcass parts