All submissions of the EM system will be redirected to Online Manuscript Submission System. Authors are requested to submit articles directly to Online Manuscript Submission System of respective journal.

Genetic trends of abdominal fat content in a male broiler chicken line

Author(s): Leila de Genova Gaya, Gerson Barreto Mour�£o, Fernanda Marcondes de Rezende, Elis�¢ngela Chicaroni de Mattos, T�©rcio Michelan Filho, Lu�­s Gustavo Girardi Figueiredo, Jos�© Bento Sterman Ferraz1 and Joanir Pereira Eler

Data of chickens from a broiler-breeding program were collected and used to determine the genetic trends of absolute and relative abdominal fat content. The genetic trends were estimated by the regression of trait genetic value averages on hatch-years. Genetic values from 32,485 individuals were used for regression analysis. The genetic trend estimate for absolute abdominal fat content was +0.39 g per year, indicating that abdominal fat deposition in the analyzed line, in absolute terms, tended to increase, making the existing excess fat deposition in the broilers even worse. However, the genetic trend of relative abdominal fat content was not significant, indicating that there is no increase on abdominal fat content when it is corrected for body weight.