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The data consists of individual records on feed consumption, body weight, and egg mass from 4909 pedigreed White Leghorns from two separate populations, Q and R. The residual component is defined as the amount of feed consumption remaining after statistical adjustment for body weight and egg mass. The heritability of the residual, as estimated from the sire component of variance, was .29 ± .07 in Q and .15 ± .06 in R. The moderately high heritability of the residual component, as estimated, suggests that individual feed consumption records will enhance selection for efficiency of egg production.
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Wing et al. (1982) studied this question.
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