Selection strategies to improve the production potential of layer chicken in Thailand

Abstract

This thesis explores the options to genetically improve the performances of the layer chicken produced by the Department of Livestock Development for small scale commercial layer operations in Thailand. To fulfill this objective, the genetic parameters were estimated for five economically important traits; age at first egg (AFE), body weight at first egg (BWT), egg weight at first egg (EWFE), total number of eggs up to 17 weeks of lay (EN) and average egg weight at the 17th week of lay (EW). A total of 11,195 hen records from 652 sires and 3,892 dams were used to estimate genetic parameters for the five traits from two purebred lines, Rhode Island Red (RIR), White Plymouth Rock (WPR) and two hybrid lines, RC and WC, generated by crossing RIR and WPR to a commercial strain.