53

Indian Vet. J., December 2012, 89 (12) : 53 - 54

Evaluation of Crosses Involving Broiler Dwarf Damlines

U. Rajkumar1, K.S. Rajaravindra, B.L.N. Reddy, M. Niranjan,
T.K. Bhattacharya and R.N. Chatterjee
Project Directorate on Poultry, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad 500 030, Andhra Pradesh

(Received : 17-03-2011; Accepted : 22-06-2011)

The concept of dwarf dam line for commercial
broiler production is a viable option in terms
of economics due to the advantageous effects
on fertility, hatchability, feed efficiency
number of saleable chicks per breeder and
space requirements (Merat, 1984; Cole, 2000).
In the present study, the commercial broiler
chicks (terminal crosses) produced from dwarf
dam line (DDL) and a broiler female line (PB-
2) with common broiler male line (PB-1) was
studied to assess the beneficial effects of
breeder parents and to establish the utility of
DDL in coloured broiler production.
Materials and Methods
maize-soybean meal during 0-4 and 5-8 weeks
of age, respectively. The chicks were
vaccinated against Marek’s disease. Newcastle
disease, infectious bursal disease and fowl pox
on 1st, 5th, 14th and 21st day, respectively. The
reproductive parameters (fertility and
hatchability), body weights upto 8 weeks of age
and shank length (confirmation trait) at 4 and
6 weeks of age were measured.
The immune traits such as response to
sheep red blood cells (SRBC) and the cell
mediated response to Phyto heamagglutinin-P
(PHA-P) were studied in 20 birds each at 6
weeks of age.

486 (268: DDL and 218: Krishibro, PB-1XPB-2)
chicks produced in a single hatch from a dwarf
dam line (DDL) and broiler line (PB-2) females
with the males of common broiler male line
(PB-1) were utilized for the present study. The
experiment was carried out during October to
December 2010 at Project Directorate on
Poultry. The PB-1 and PB-2 are established
male and female lines for coloured broiler
production which are under selection for 5
week body weight and 40 week part period egg
production, respectively over last 20
generations. The DDL was evolved from dwarf
and PB-2 female line for production of
commercial broiler chicks. The chicks were fed
ad lib with broiler starter (2900: ME, 22: CP)
and finisher (3000: ME, 20: CP) diets based on
The birds were injected with 100 mg
PHA-P solution (Bangalore Genei, Bangalore,
India) in 0.1 ml sterile saline in the left wattle
at 6 weeks of age. The difference in wattle
swelling before and after 24 hrs of injection was
considered as response to PHA-P.
The birds were injected with 0.1 ml of
0.5 percent suspension of packed SRBC in
normal saline i/v at 6 weeks of age. The total
antibody titre was determined on 5 th day by
haemagglutination test and expressed in log 2
values.
The data were analyzed as per standard
methods using GLM procedure in SPSS version
12.0 software package.

1
Corresponding author : Email : ullengala@yahoo.com

The Indian Veterinary Journal (December, 2012)

54 Evaluation of crosses involving broiler dwarf damlines
Results and Discussion
The fertility and hatchability in dwarf dam line
were significantly higher than the normal
broiler female line. The per cent fertility was
90.65 (DDL) and 79.12 % (PB-2) and hatchability
on fertile egg set (FES) was 92.57 and 87.54%
and on total egg set (TES) was 84.95 and 68.63%
in DDL and PB-2, respectively.
The mean body weights, shank length
and immune parameters were summarized. The
body weights were significantly (p  0.01)
higher in Krishibro than PB-1 x DDL cross from
first week onwards. At birth, the body weights
were similar in both the crosses without any
significant variation. Krishibro chicks showed
faster growth rate from first week onwards and
maintained till the eighth week. The body
weight at six and eight weeks of age was 1169.22
± 11.68 and 1904.51 ± 18.37 g in PB-1 x DDL and
1241.71 ± 14.52 and 2027.04 ± 23.78 g in PB-1 x
PB-2, respectively. Reddy et al. (2007) reported
significant difference in body weight up to 6
weeks of age between normal broiler crosses
and dwarf crossbred x broiler crosses. However,
the magnitude of body weight was lower in the
present study which might be due to the long-
term selection of birds for dwarfism. Rajkumar
et al. (2011) reported higher body weights
(1267.65 ± 15.58 g) at six weeks of age than the
present estimates in Krishibro cross. The lower
body weight in PB-1 x DDL cross may be
attributable to incomplete recessive dwarf gene
in heterozygous form (DW+dw).
The shank length did not show any
significant variation indicating that the dwarf
dam line females produced normal chicken with
normal broiler males, an important property of
sex-linked dwarfism. Lower shank length
estimates were reported by Rajkumar et al.
(2010) in dwarf pure line due to the heterotic
effects in crossbred.
The cumulative feed efficiency (FCR)
The Indian Veterinary Journal (December, 2012)
was 1.98 and 2.07 in PB1xDDL cross and 2.23
and 2.38 in PB1xPB2 cross at six and eight
weeks of age respectively. The FCR values
could not be tested statistically because the
birds were fed en mass without any
replications. However, the PCR was relatively
better in PB1 x DDL. Commercially, the dw
gene has been used successfully as a female
parent line for commercial broiler production
in Europe with substantial savings in feed,
housing and other maintenance costs (Gowe
and Fairfull, 2008).
The SRBC titres were significantly
(p  0.01) higher indicating the significant
higher humoral response to sheep red blood cell
antigen. The cell mediated cutaneous
hypersensitivity in PHA-P was not significantly
varied among the crosses.
Summary
A comparative study on terminal crosses
involving DDL and PB-2 females with PB-1
males was evaluated for growth and immune
parameters. The present findings showed the
advantages of dwarf gene with respect to feed
efficiency, fertility, hatchability and
maintenance cost etc. These results confirmed
the economic benefits of the dwarf dam line
though the growth rate was lower.
References
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