The Growth Pattern of the Cornish Fowl

THE increased interest in poultry meat production has resulted in a corresponding interest in the Cornish breed. This breed is of particular interest because it has been shown to possess unique fleshing qualities. Information concerning the growth pattern which might make possible more efficient selection of breeding birds at an early age would be worthwhile. This paper is a portion of a more complete correlative study of five criteria of growth. In recent years, it has come to be recognized that weight, taken alone, is not entirely satisfactory as the measure of growth. Five primary growth criteria, namely body weight, shank length, anterior body depth, length of sternum and breast width were used in this study. These data, in a sense, provide information on the speed of growth processes concerned with mass, volume and length of the long bones. In addition the breast width study furnishes a measure of the . . .