Inheritance of Sexual Maturity in Male Chickens and Turkeys

Jones and Lamoreux (1942, Poultry Sci. 21: 173) found that in two strains of Leghorns, respectively selected for high and for low egg production, the yield of semen obtained by artificial stimulation of males also differed significantly. Their first semen collections were made when the cockerels were 12 weeks of age. At that time the proportion of males yielding semen was somewhat greater in the high than in the low egg production line though the difference was not significant. The yield, however, even at that early age was significantly greater in the former. Jones and Lamoreux interpreted these results as a reflection of the difference in rate of sexual maturity between the two lines. In order to establish whether there are inherited differences in the age of sexual maturity as measured by age at the first appearance of semen, tests with chickens and with turkeys were undertaken. Although the data . . .