Six Consecutive Generations of Brother to Sister Matings in White Leghorns. A Preliminary Report on Studies in Inbreeding in Poultry

If an adequate understanding of the inheritance of egg production in the domestic fowl is to be had, pure lines with which to work are essential. But the character comes to expression in one sex only, which makes the establishment of pure lines a matter of great difficulty by ordinary methods. Advantage may, however, be taken of the automatic production of pure lines through continued brother to sister matings. To be sure, one must take what the gods of chance combination send. Nevertheless with a few pure lines to start with much may be accomplished. At Mount Hope Farm, various kinds of inbred matings have been made since the establishment of the Poultry Department in 1918. In 1921, systematic brother to sister matings were begun, and continued with varying degrees of success. The first generation was so uniformally successful that it seemed possible that high production could be secured by . . .