Carcass traits as influenced by breast conformation score and their inheritance in broilers

Broiler chicks (753) from 30 sires and 210 dams belonging to a growth selected strain of broilers PB-1 were raised to 8 weeks of age. Breast conformation (BCS), body weight at 8 weeks (BW8) was recorded before slaughtering 400 randomly selected broilers to study the carcass traits and cut-up parts’ yield and their inheritance. Sexes differed significantly for BW8 and the carcass traits but on percent scale the differences were found to be nonsignificant except for abdominal fat. Breast and thigh weights expressed as percent to eviscerated weight were higher for birds having better BCS. While the percent drumstick yield was significantly lower, the overall premium cuts yield (PCY) was significantly higher in BCS-III (57.72%) compared to BCS-I (53.36%).Contrary to this the percent yield of non prime cuts (NPCY) was lower in birds exhibiting better BCS. Percent yield of support organs like liver and heart registered a significant downfall with the improvement in BCS. Heritability estimates were high for BW8 (0.47–0.49) and percent breast yield (0.50–0.54) and moderate to low for other cutups. Percent eviscerated carcass and percent breast yield (BRY) had high genetic correlations with BCS. The genetic correlations between the two sexes for percent breast and leg yields were very high (0.90–0.97) suggesting thereby that genes involved in the genetic control of these traits may be same in both the sexes.