T maze performance and body weight relationship in broiler chicks.

MARIN R. H.; MARTIJENA I. D.; ARCE A,

APPLIED ANIMAL BEHAVIOUR SCIENCE

Año: 1997 vol. 54 p. 197 - 205

0168-1591

Two days old broiler chicks of both sexes were selected on the basis of their escape performance from a T‑maze apparatus, and termed high performance (H‑P), moderate performance (M‑P), and low performance (L‑P) chicks. Then, the three groups were reared to reach 15 days of age and the gender and body weights measured. A lineal regression analysis showed a significant positive correlation between body weight and the performance of chicks, without sex discrimination. Furthermore, two‑way ANOVA on the body weight (selection x gender), showed a significant main effect of selection. LSD pairwise comparison of means shows that the H‑P male chicks (322.0 g) were 12.7 % heavier (p<0.01) than their L‑P counterparts (285.7 g). Similar differences in body weight were observed between H‑P and L‑P female chicks, but they failed to reach the significant level. Thus, the T‑maze performance might be a useful selection criterion in future breeding programs to obtain birds with a better development capacity.