The Relationship of Parthenogenetic Development in Broad Breasted White Turkey Eggs to Level of Production and Environmental Factors

One hundred and twenty Broad Breasted White turkey hens were taken through two production periods with a 10-week dark house treatment between cycles. Incidence of parthenogenesis was established on each virgin female prior to artificial insemination to determine fertility and hatch of fertile eggs. Following the dark house treatment, the hens were again checked for incidence of parthenogenetic development assuming that no viable spermatozoa remained in the oviduct. A number of environmental factors affecting the hens and their egg production were checked to determine the effect on parthenogenesis. There was a strong correlation between the incidence of parthenogenetic development in the two cycles. In addition, incidence of parthenogenetic development was correlated with low ambient temperature at time of ovulation. Parthenogenetic development had a heritability of .2 and a sizable genetic correlation with both production and hatch of fertile eggs. All other relationships showed little or no correlation.