The Roslin QTL experimental cross was established by Dave Burt and Paul Hocking and is designed to identify molecular markers that are closely linked to the genes that determine characteristics of economic importance in chickens. Several experiments have been performed measuring a variety of traits, including growth rate, carcase conformation, egg production, egg quality and semen characteristics along with many others. The progeny of the cross are to be genotyped and analyses carried out to link genotypic data with phenotypic traits.
The pedigree of the cross used in the experiments is represented graphically below. Eight founder birds derived from inbred broiler and layer lines were crossed in four pairs to give a number of F1 generation birds. The crosses in the founder generation are listed at the top of the diagram. The identities of these individual birds describe their line (L = layer, B = Broiler), their sex (M = male, F = female) and their indivdual number within that line. Eight F1 males (two from each cross; represented in blue in the diagram) were subsequently mated to 33 F1 females (eight from each cross plus one replacement; represented in green in the diagram) to give rise to 33 distinct families of F2 offspring. F2 generation birds resulting from 25 distinct hatches were used for analysis of phenotypes.
This page was last modifed on 26 November 1999
This page is maintained at Roslin by Irene Black