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Abstract

The aim of this thesis was to study chickens of an F7 intercross between red jungle fowl and White leghorn layers in five behavioural tests to see if there are any correlations between traits in the intercross. 80 animals were used (40 males, 40 females); they were tested in a TI test, an open field, a fear of human test, an aggression test and lastly a sociality test. The results indicate a couple of correlations between the different variables; chickens with a long TI duration seemed to be less aggressive, and chickens with a high fear of humans seemed to be more social towards other chickens, which could suggest a correlation between fear and social behaviour/aggression. We also found support for previous studies showing that one QTL control chickens behaviour in the TI test based on the strong correlations we found between the variables in the TI test. We could also see differences between the genders in which variables that correlated with each other; this could lead to a speculative suggestion that those behaviours are controlled by genes on the X-chromosome. There was also a significant relationship between the weight of the male chickens’ and their behaviour in the open field test and in the fear of human test, where the heavier males were less fearful than the lighter ones.


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Last updated: 05/20/09