Crossbreeding in Poultry

SummaryA review of the literature pertaining to heterosis and crossbreeding techniques in poultry. An attempt has been made to summarize in a table the findings for important traits, viz. early maturity, egg production, egg weight, body weight and egg quality, with regard to specific combining ability, maternal-and reciprocal effects. In addition the results of two crossing experiments which were taken at the Spelderholt Institute for Poultry Research, Beekbergen, the Netherlands are presented. The main conclusion to be drawn, is that the application of a system of selection based on exploiting variance due to Specific Combining Ability should be preceded by a test indicating that this source of variance is indeed present.