Influence of parental relationship on egg production, hatchability and viability of progeny in an experimental population of pigeons.

The effect of parental consanguinity on prolificacy, hatching and the viabi lity of inbred chicks at various stages of development is studied by compar ison of three levels of consanguinity and a control in which partners were unselected. Prolificacy and the number of the clear eggs are independent of the parental consanguinity although it affects the proportion of black egg s significantly. Multiple comparison of means shows that the controls diffe r significantly from that of the half sib matings for this character. Conce rning hatching, the analysis does not show significant variation. Viability of the squabs is however affected by the coefficient of consanguinity from the first week of development. In fact, analysis reveals significant varia tions between the types. This variability accentuates with the age of the d escendants and achieves its maximum at the adult stage leading to a clear d isadvantage of production by related parents. The profit in squabs shows a correlation inversely proportional to the degree of consanguinity.