Influence of selection for high humoral immunity on turkey poult mortality

The reproductive traits and poult mortality patterns were studied in lines of turkey, considered as native variety of Small White Beltsville, selected for high response to sheep red blood cells (SRBC) for one generation. Percent fertility and percent hatchability (TES and FES) did not differ significantly between eggs produced by the parents of high SRBC response (86.87, 70.83 and 81.73) and random bred control line (90.85, 73.94 and 81.40% (%) lines. Similarly, percent poult mortality during various weeks (0–2, 2–4, 4–6, 6–8, 8–10, 10–12, 12–16, 0–8, 8–16 and 0–16 weeks) did not differ significantly between the selected and unselected lines. The present findings suggested no adverse effect on fertility, hatchability and mortality of poults by one generation of genetic selection for high humoral immune response.