Genetics of Growth and Reproduction in the Turkey

Segregates of reciporcal backcrosses (black × bronze, bronze × red, bronze × spotted, slate × bronze, bronze × black-winged bronze, bronze × dark brown, and light gray × white) were compared within dams, hatches, and years for body weight at 8, 16, and 24 weeks of age, 70-day egg production, semen volume, sperm concentration, and total sperm per collection. All (B, sp, D, bl r, cg, and e) of the genes influencing plumage color patterns tested except cg either had no influence on the quantitative characters or reduced the levels of either growth (sp, r, e), egg production (r), or semen production (bl). The cg gene improved semen production relative to the c gene without any significant effect on body weight at 8, 16, or 24 weeks of age. Crosses of bronze × black had higher mortality than the average of the two parental strains.