Genetic Aspects of the Profit Equation in a Broiler Enterprise1'2

THE HIGH LEVEL of efficiency of broiler producers today is the result of improved feeding, management and breeding practices. In the main, this im-provement has been effected in the broiler progeny, not in the performance of the parent stock. Yet costs in a broiler enter-prise are determined, not only by the efficiency of broiler progeny, but also by the performance of the parent flock, par-ticularly its rate of egg production, feed efficiency and hatchability. Specific knowledge concerning the relative im-portance of parent and progeny perform-ance determining profitability of a strain or cross seems to be lacking. Strain and Nordskog (1962) concluded that broiler weight and broiler feed conversion were the most important factors determining net income in the Maine Random Sample Broiler tests. Egg production in the par-ent flock was of little importance. Nord-skog (1960), using egg laying test data, found that egg production was the most important single factor affecting income. However, both of these reports were based on phenotypic correlations between traits