Heterosis and heritability estimates of body weight in turkeys

Crosses and backcrosses were carried out with two commercial varieties of turkeys (Black Bronze and White Ross). The birds of the White Ross strain had higher body weights at 12 and 16 weeks of age than the Black Bronze turkeys. The F 1 crosses were intermediate between the body weights of the parent varieties. For the 12-week body weight, heritability estimates were 0.62, 0.74, and 0.68 on the basis of the sire, dam, and sire plus dam components, respectively. The h2 values for the 16-week body weight were 0.55, 1.06, and 0.80, respectively. The estimates of maternal effects were 0.03 and 0.13 for the 12- and 16-week body weights.