Inheritance of body weight and body measurements in Kadaknath

Indian native breed Kadaknath, habitant of Jhabua and Dhar districts of Madhya Pradesh and adjoining districts of Rajasthan and Gujarat, locally known as “Kalamasi”, is rare type medium sized bird with slow growth rate. Genetic studies of juvenile body weight and body measurements revealed moderate to high values of heritability for these traits. Heritability estimates of body weights ranged from 0.20±0.13 to 0.56±0.17 in males and 0.28±0.13 to 0.47±0.15 in females at various ages. Range of heritability estimates for shank and keel length were 0.26±0.13 to 0.43±0.15 and 0.17±0.12 to 0.27±0.13, respectively in males and the corresponding values for females were 0.21±0.12 to 0.31±0.13 and 0.26±0.13 to 0.45±0.15, respectively. High and positive genetic correlation coefficients among various body weights and body measurements indicated that selection on the basis of any one trait would result concomitant improvement in other traits.