Selection experiment for increased egg production under 23 H and 24 H light-dark cycles in the domestic fowl.

ABSTRACT

A selection experiment was conducted for increased rate of lay under 23-h (23 HS line) and 24-h (24 HS line) light-dark cycles over 5 generations. In generation 5, rate of lay was higher in the 23 HS line than in the 24 HS line, and the proportion of hens with mean intra-sequence intervals of less than 24 h in the 23 HS line increased to 88% in the generation 5 from 15% in the base generation. The realised heritability for rate of lay was 0.25 plus/minus 0.04 in the 23 HS line and 0.15 plus/minus 0.05 in the 24 HS line. Egg weight and shell weight decreased in both lines, and the decrease in the proportion of shell was larger in the 23 HS line than in the 24 line. It is suggested that a regimen of 23 h light and dark may be an effective environment for selection to improve the laying performance of a population approaching a plateau for egg production.