FOR THE PEOPLE FOR EDVCATION FOR SCIENCE LIBRARY OF THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY >ll II >l Studies on inheritance in poultry: L The con- stitution of the White Leghorn breed* BULLETIN 155 Agricultural Experiment Station OF THE Rhode Island State College KINGSTON, R. I., U. S. A., JUNE, 1913. The publications of the Station will be sent free to all who apply for them. Suggestions how the Station can aid the State are gladly receiv^ed. Tisitora are always welcome. Bailway Station, Telegraph, Express and Post-Offlce — Kingston, B. I, Telephone, Narragansett Pier Exchange, 233-J. PRESS 07 2. L. FBSBUAK COMPANY, PBIin'irRS TO TBS STATS. Studies on inheritance in poultry: I. The con- stitution of the White Leghorn breed. BULLETIN 155 v Agricultural Experiment Station OF THE Rhode Island State College KINGSTON, R. I., U. S. A., JUNE, 1913, The publications of the Station will be sent free to all who apply for them. Suggestions how the Station can aid the State are gladly received. Visitors are always welcome. Railway Station, Telegraph, Express and Post-OflBce — Kingston, R. I. Telephone, Narragansett Pier Exchange, 232-J. PRESS OF E. L. FREEMAN COMPANY, PRINTERS TO THE STATE. BOARD OF MANAGERS OF THE RHODE ISLAND STATE COLLEGE. Chas. Dean Kimball, President Providence Co., Providence, R. I Thomas G. Mathewson, Vice-President Kent Co., East Greenwich, R. I Robert S. Burlixgame, Clerk and Treasurer. . . /Sevrport Co., Xe\vport, R. I Charles W. Estes Bristol Co., Warren, R. I B. Frank Robinson Washington Co., Wakefield, R. I Walter E. Ranger, State Com. of School.*?, ex-ojjlcio Providence, R. I Philip E. Money, Member of State Ronrfl of Agriculture Slocum, R. I STATION STAFF. ,, T- AT A TT TA ^ I 'H'SJc 1( 11 1 of 1 llO CollegC. Howard Edwards, M. A., I.L. D , r- ^ r >. i I hx-Olhcin Member. HiTRT L. Hartv\'ELL, Ph. D., Director.. . . Agronomy; Chemistry. Philip B. IIadley, Ph. D Animal Breeding and Pathology. S. C. Damon, B. S Assistant, Agronomy. F. R. Pember, M. S .\.ssistant. Plant Physiology. P. H. Wessels, M. S Afvistant, Chemistry. Robert A. Lichtenthaeler, MS Assistant, Chemistry. F. O. Fitts, B S Assistant, Chemistry. L. A. Maynard, a. B Assistant, Chemistry. G.E. Merkle, B.S . .Assistant, Chemistry. Dorothy W. Caldwell, B. S .Assistant, Biology. ( 'ARROLL H. Magoon Poultr}'nian. F. J. Godin, B.S Assistant, Floriculture. Nathaniel Helme Meteorology. E. Eli7-abeth Meears. . . .Stenographer and Librarian. M. Alice Kimball . .Stenographer and Accountant. If. Alida Birch Stenographer. AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION OF THE RHODE ISLAND STATE COLLEGE. BULLETIN 165^ STUDIES ON INHERITANCE IN POULTRY: I. THE CONSTITUTION OF THE WHITE LEGHORN BREED.t PHILIP B. HADLEY, With the assistance of Dorothy W. Caldwell and C. H. Magoon. CONTEXTS. I. Introduction p. 153. II. Historical Resume p. 156. III. Experimental Results p. 163. IV. General Discussion of Results p. 182. a. Discussion of special cases p. 186. 1. The Fi matings p. 186. 2. The F2 matings p. 190. 3. Other matings p. 194. b. Discussion of additional crosses bearing on: 1. Constitution of the White Leghorn breed with respect to factor / p. 205. 2. Black pigmentation latent in the White Leghorn p. 205. ♦This bulletin constitutes a part of the Twenty-sixth Annual Report for the year ending June 30 , 1913. tContributioD No. 19, from the Division of Animal Breeding and Pathology of the Agricultural Experiment Station. 152 Bulletin No. 155. — 1913. 3. Relation of the White Leghorn factor I to factor / of the Brown Leghorn (Bateson and Punnett) p. 211. 4. Occurrence of the factor for barring in breeds possessing the R-white p. 212- V. Summary and Conclusions p. 213. VI. Literature Cited p. 215. VII. Description of Plates p. 216. L Introduction. In the history of plant and animal breeding it has been commonly observed that the mating of different varieties or species may produce offspring which, in certain respects, are unlike either parent. In some instances the qualities of this mixed, or heterozygous, individual are an improvement upon either parent form, just as superior strains of corn are in reahty hybrid-products, or as the crosses between cer- tain varieties of poultry yield birds of different plumage or of larger size than that of either parent. In the continued propagation of these desirable types, the plant or animal breeders have, however, encoun- tered much difficulty. This difficulty deals primarily with the follow- ing circumstance: In the majority of cases the heterozygous form does not breed true ; upon continued propagation it breaks up again into the parent types, and leaves only a certain proportion of heter- ozygous individuals which themselves, when bred further, behave in the same manner.* In other words, no method is known of "fixing" a heterozygous character, — of causing it to faithfully repro- duce itself through successive generations. That knowledge of such a method would be a valuable addition to the theory and practice of both plant and animal breeding, no one can deny; whether it is possible, remains to be ascertained. The many variable features possessed by domestic poultry and the ease with which crosses between diverse types can be made, render this group of animals especially favorable for studying the behavior, in inheritance, of such so-called heterozygous characters. At the outset of this investigation, in 1909, barring in fowls was selected as the character to be studied. The barred color-pattern in feathers was then tentatively regarded as a heterozygous condition arising *A case in point is that of the Blue Andalusian fowl which is a "hybrid" product and never breeds true. 154 Bulletin No. 155.— 1913. from the mixture of black and white. The problem was therefore, first of all, to produce this character de novo, as it were; or at least, to obtain it as a result of mating fowls which, in themselves or in their ancestry, were not known to possess the condition either in a fixed or in a transitional state; in other words, in selecting the material to be employed in the investigation, the use of Barred Pl^Tiiouth Rocks and other barred breeds, as well as of their ancestors and their derivatives, was to be scrupulously avoided. Secondly, the problem was to so breed the birds manifesting the newly-produced character that it should be made a permanent acquisition of the breed. As will appear in the following pages this end has in a measure been reached,- — that is to say, a breed of barred fowl has been pro- duced through the employment in breeding of factors found in birds which manifested no somatic barring. But the nature of the results secured is such as to call into question the truth of the very hypothesis upon which the investigation was originally based. In other w^ords, the question is now raised whether we are justified in considering the type of barring revealed and studied in the experiments to be reported in the light of a heterozygous character. The recently-devised factor-hypothesis and its application to the principles of breeding and laws of heredity, together with the theory of unit-characters, has profoundly modified our views regarding the fundamental nature of the things that are inherited. Thus, to discover a factor for barring where it was not previously known to exist, and to produce such a factor (or such a pattern) de novo by the bringing together of simpler germinal elements, are manifestly two different operations. A dis- cussion of the bearing of this consideration upon the results of the present investigation may wtII be deferred until the experimental data have been presented. It may be said here, however, that these data may not be valueless notwithstanding that their significance now appears to be different from that first assumed ; and the investigation as a whole, though, perhaps not dealing with the actual "fixation" of a heterozygous character as first surmised may still have the merit of throwing new light upon one phase of the inheritance of the barred Constitution of the White Leghorn Breed. 155 color-pattern; and, in addition, of producing a new type of fowl through the isolation, and subsequent employment in breeding, of a previously hidden factor. The barred color-pattern is doubtless a very old and a b}^ no means uncommon form of marking in the plumage of both wild and domestic birds. With some modification it is present in the feathering of many of our game birds, but it is in one or two varieties of domestic fowl that the character is to be seen in the purest and most extended form. At the present day the Barred Plymouth Rocks, an American breed, represent by far the most perfect development of the barred pattern to be found in any species or variety of bird. The origin of barring in domestic fowls is not easy to ascertain. It appears probable that the barring used in making the breed of Barred Plymouth Rocks as it is known to-day was derived from the American Dominiques. These birds, which possess less perfect barring than the Barred Plymouth Rocks, are stated by some to have inherited this marking from the ^'cuckoo" birds of England, but this point is not supported by available evidence. It must therefore be concluded that we are not acquainted with the manner by whicn the definite barred color-pattern Was first introduced into the breeds of domestic fowl. So far as can be ascertained, however, no new breeds of barred fowl have been produced since the making of the American Barred Plymouth Rocks, in which, as has been stated, the Domi- niques were the major component. A partial exception to this state- ment is found in the words of Wright (1910), who states that barred birds are sometimes the result of crosses between white birds and those of dark color. Wright assumes that barring is not a primary char- acter [unit character], but a sort of mixture through which the breed of Dominiques may have been founded. He further observes that when once produced, this character '^has a strong tendency to per- manence." These opinions of Wright were based upon observations made from time to time in the poultry yard and without especial study. Within the past few years, however, the method of in- heritance of many characters in fowl has been made by several investigators tho object of especial study and, among these characters, that of barring has received some consideration. We may therefore review briefly some of the recent work on this subject. n. Historical Resume. Hurst (1905) was among the first to test the Mendelian principles of heredity with respect to characters of fowl. .\lt hough he did not 11 Hike a particular study of barring he makes several references to the iil)peiirance of this color-pattern in cross-bred birds. .Vmong other crosses was Houdan cf X White leghorn 9 . This cross "gave 94 whites and 11 blacks; of these, 22 were apjwirently clear white, 72 \vhit(* ticked with black, one black with white head, and 10 black tick(etween white and i)lack wius marked and di.scontinuous. In the first plumage all except two of the clear whites develojx^fl black ticks, similar to those that were born tickeef]<T>es, dark Houdans and Craves, suggesting that the cuckoo male parent was giving off black gametes. No dominant whites appeared in this mating, suggesting that the cuckoo male parent was not giving off dominant white gametes." It is interesting to note that the cuckoo cf mentioned above sub- sequently moulted into almost clear white, only one feather on the back being tipped with gray. Besides the Houdan X White Leghorn cross, Hurst also crossed Black Hamburg cf with Wiite Leghorn 9 . The progeny comprised 49 whites and 8 blacks; of these one was apparently clear white, 48 were ticked with black, and 8 were black with whitish throats. None of these chicks were rai.sed for further observation, and Hurst draws no conclusions regarding the origin of the barred pattern described. Davenport (190G) has also described a type of barring which appeared when certain black and white breeds were crossed, lii these matings dominance of white was the usual result. Two White Leghorns crossed by a Black Minorca proiluced in Fi only white birds, the 99 having some black feathers White Leghorns crossed with Houdans gave only white progeny This result is at variance with Hurst's mentione'men have observ'ed similar results from such crosses, but without recording their observations. Yet tlie facts obson them an interpretation agn^'ing with the Men- (Iclian view of herenly white l)irds appeared in Fi; in a f(^w of the.se faint bars developed. In F2» however, there were white, black, gray and barred chicks, the latter resembling exactly the Barred Plymouth Rocks. In addition to the instances of barring mentioned above, Pearl (1012) has reported, upon the authority of an English fancier*, the liistor}' of the "Cuckoo Pekins." This bantam breed, according to the authority cited, was produced from a mating of Black Pekin (cf) with White Booted (9). One of the 9 progeny showed "stone- colored bars on a milk-white ground." This bird was mated back to its sire, tne Black Pekin. The cuckoo pullets from this mating were mated with a cuckoo cockerel derived from imported Chinese Cuckoo stock. Inbreeding was practical until a pennanent cuckoo variety was established. Regarding the origin of this barred pattern, Pearl assumes that it did not arise de novo, but that the barred factor was ]iresent in the White Booted parent. However this may be, one further point is of interest, namely, the question of the alleged trans- mission of barring from the White Boot, 348-353. 5. Hadlet, Philip B. — Note on the behavior of the domestic fowl, Amer. Nat., 1909, 43. pp. 6G9-676. 6. Hadlet, Philip B. — Notes on the parasitism of Ct/iodiles nudu$ and Haemophysalu chordeilis. Science, N. S., 1909, 30. p. 774. 7. Hadlet, Philip B. — Regarding the value of the van Gieson and the Romanowsky malarial stains for the detection of coccidia. Centbl. /. Baki. [etc.], Abt. 1, Grig., 1909, 52 (1), pp. 147-150. 8. Cole, Leon J. and Hadlet, Philip B. — Ropy millr in Rhode Island. R. I. Agr. Expt. Sta. Bui, 13G, pp. 129-152, June, 1909. 9. Cole, Leon J. and Hadlet, Philip B., with the assistance of Wm. F. Kirkpatrick. — Black- head in turkeys. R. I. Agr. Expt. Sta. Bid. 141, pp. 137-271, June, 1910. 10. Hadlet, Philip B. — Studies in avian coccidiosis: III. Coccidiosis in the Engliiih sparrow and other wild birds. Cenibl. f. Bakt. [etc.], Abt. 1, Grig., 1909, 56, 522-3. 11. Hadlet, Philip B., assisted by Amison, Elizabeth E. — Further studies on blackhead in turkeys. Centbl. /. Bakt. [etc.], Abt. 1, Grig., 1910, 58, 33-41. 12. Hadlet, Philip B.— Fowl cholera and methods of combatting it. R, J. Agr. Expt. Sta. Bui. 144, pp. 309-337, November, 1910. 13. H.\DLBT, Philip B. — Eimeria avium: A morphological study. Archiv. /. Prolistenk, 1911, 22, 7-50. 14. Hadlet, Philip B., and Amison, Elizabeth E. — A biological study of eleven pathogenic organisms from cholera-like diseases in poultry. R. I. Agr. Expt. Sta. Bui. 146, pp. 43-102. June, 1911. 15. Hadlby, Philip B.— Studies on fowl cholera: I. A biological study of ten strains of the fowl cholera organism. Centbl. f. Bakt. [etc.], Abt. 1, Grig., 1911, 61, 323-335. 16. Hadlet, Philip B. — Studies on fowl cholera-. II. The r61e of an homologous culture of slight virulence in the production of active immunity in rabbits. R. I. Agr. Expt. Sla. Bui. 160, pp. 81-171, March. 1912. 17. Hadlet, Philip B. — Studies on fowl cholera: II. Active immunity in rabbits. Cenibl. f. Bakt. [etc.], Abt. 1, Grig., 1913, 69, (4), 271-311. 18. Hadlet Philip B. — ^The presence of the barred plumage-pattern in the White Leghorn breed cf fowls. American Naturalist, 1913, 47, pp. 418-428; with 6 figures in text. 19. Hadlet, Philip B., with the assistance of Dobotht W. Caldwell and C. H. MAaooN — Studies on inheritance in poultry: I. The constitution of tiie White Leghorn breed R. I. Agr. Expt. Sta. Bui., 155, pp. 151-216, Pis. I-III, June, 1913.