Estimates of Some Genetic Parameters of Egg Quality

Abstract An experiment was initiated in the fall of 1953 to combine high egg production and desirable egg quality traits. The source population was the White Leghorn stock maintained at the Agricultural Research Center, Beltsville, Maryland, and designated as the “heat resistant thick-white egg line.” This line had been selected for desirable albumen quality traits but not for high egg production. Data obtained from this five year study were study were utilized to estimate some of the genetic parameters involved. Six single-male breeding pens of ten females each were used the first year, while six single-male matings of 6 to 10 females each were used in the four subsequent years. All pullets hatched, approximately 200–250, were trapnested each year from 1954 to 1958. Weekly egg weights were recorded throughout a 12 month laying period. For the first three years, egg quality data were recorded in July and during the last…