The Geneticist's Objectives in Poultry Improvement

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Abstract
The most important objective is considered to be the production of strains resistant to poultry diseases, particularly to neoplasms and disorders of reproduction. Information is needed about the genetic bases for such resistances. Other desiderata include extension of the economically profitable productive life of fowls, increased efficiency of reproduction resulting from detection and elimination of lethal genes, and the establishment of strains with minimum requirements of such expensive dietary supplements as vitamins A and D and riboflavin. The present practice is to use diets sufficiently fortified with such supplements to protect the fowl with the highest requirement. This is undesirable from the ethnocentric point of view. Information is needed about physiological differences between breeds and about the relation of environmental conditions to the viability and performance of breeds and genotypes. Progeny testing and hybrid vigor require further study. Examples are used throughout to illustrate the types of investigations needed.