GENETIC STUDY OF BODY CONFORMATION TRAITS IN A SYNTHETIC BROILER STRAIN

615 chicks were taken in the three hatches using the progeny of 96 females and 16 males as parents. The means for conformation traits were 8.60 +/- 0.02, 10.64 +/- 0.10 cm for keel length at 6 weeks and 8 weeks of age, respectively. The shank length at 6 and 8 weeks of age was 6.62 +/- 0.01 and 8.72 +/- 0.03 cm respectively. The breast angle at 6 and 8 weeks of age was 71.43 +/- 0.15 and 79.53 +/- 0.15. The effect of hatch was found to be highly significant on body conformation traits. The heritability estimates for keel length and shank length both at 6 weeks of age was found to be 0.436 +/- 0.174 and 0.575 +/- 0.210, respectively. The genetic correlations of keel length at 6 weeks with 8 weeks and shank length at 6 weeks were positive and high. Positive and high association was. observed between breast angle at 6 and 8 weeks of age.