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Inheritance of Breast Muscle Morphology in a Line of Turkeys Selected for Increased Egg Production, Its Randombred Control Line, and Reciprocal Crosses Between Them¹

Department of Animal Sciences, Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center, The Ohio State University, Wooster 44691

² Corresponding author: velleman.1{at}osu.edu

Breast muscle morphology was studied at 16 wk of age in a line (E) selected over 45 generations for increased egg production, its randombred control line (RBC1), and reciprocal crosses between the E and RBC1 lines. A sample of 10 birds per genetic group-sex subgroup was killed with restraint to prevent flapping of the wings. The skin was removed from the breast region and a sample of breast muscle was obtained in a manner to prevent contraction. The muscle samples were dehydrated, cleared, embedded in paraffin, sectioned, incubated, and rehydrated before staining with hematoxylin and eosin. Four sections from the same muscle from each bird were placed on a slide and the slides were viewed for muscle morphology characteristics with a microscope and digitally recorded. Five fields of each section were viewed. Representative sections of each bird were given a score by 4 individuals based on breast muscle morphology. The scores ranged from 1 (little extracellular matrix and indistinct muscle fibers) to 5 (large extracellular space and distinct muscle fibers). Scores from 2 to 4 were intermediate to these extremes. The data were analyzed for sexes separate and combined.

The E line had lower breast muscle morphology scores than the RBC1 line for males and sexes combined, indicating additive genetic variation in the scores. Nonadditive genetic variation was not an important source of variation for breast muscle morphology scores based on the contrast of the average of the parental lines with the average of the reciprocal crosses for males, females, or sexes combined. In 5 of 6 possible comparisons, the breast muscle morphology scores of the reciprocal cross were not significantly different from the line of the dam in the reciprocal cross. The only exception was for the E sire x RBC1 dam cross based on the data for females, wherein the breast muscle morphology scores were higher in the cross than in the pure RBC1 line. The results of the current study confirm the maternal inheritance of breast muscle morphology scores at 16 wk of age that has been previously reported.

Key Words: turkey • breast muscle morphology • maternal inheritance • additive genetic variation • nonadditive genetic variation

¹ Salaries and research support provided by state and federal funds appropriated to the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center, The Ohio State University.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				S. G. Velleman, C. S. Coy, J. W. Anderson, and K. E. Nestor The Effect of Genetic Increases in Egg Production and Age and Sex on Breast Muscle Development of Turkeys Poult. Sci., October 1, 2007; 86(10): 2134 - 2138. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]