INFERTILITY AND ACTION OF THE GENE FOR ROSE COMB IN THE DOMESTIC FOWL

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Abstract
Sex and comb type ratios of progeny from male domestic fowl of 3 comb genotypes, RR, Rr, and rr, mated to rr females, were compared in an attempt to determine the cause of the low fertility of homozygous rose comb males. None of the ratios differed significantly from those expected. It was shown that the low fertility of RR males was not due to the presence of the R gene in their sperm cells but to some deleterious effect of the RR host body on the developing spermatozoa. The low fertility was attributed to a pleiotropic effect of the gene for rose comb in which the gene acts as a dominant in determining comb morphology but as a recessive in its effect on fertility.