Divergent selection for natural antibodies in poultry in the presence of a major gene

Table 1 Descriptive statistics (averages, with standard deviations in parentheses) of total (IgTotal), IgM, and IgG KLH-binding natural antibody titers in a White Leghorn chicken population divergently selected for IgTotal, resulting in a High and a Low line

Generation	IgM			IgG			IgTotal			N^a
Generation	Low	High	H-L^b	Low	High	H-L^b	Low	High	H-L^b	N^a
Base	7.10_(1.43)		0.00	6.16_(1.57)		0.00	6.89_(1.51)		0.00	4855
G1	6.11_(0.97)	6.61_(1.01)	0.50	5.81_(1.37)	6.27_(1.28)	0.46	5.89_(1.33)	6.38_(1.21)	0.49	946
G2	5.75_(0.91)	6.68_(0.85)	0.93	5.17_(1.37)	5.99_(1.34)	0.82	5.17_(1.39)	6.36_(1.28)	1.19	820
G3	5.21_(0.98)	6.40_(0.84)	1.19	4.96_(1.78)	5.84_(1.49)	0.88	6.77_(1.84)	8.11_(1.60)	1.34	526
G4	4.33_(1.10)	6.11_(0.91)	1.78	4.39_(1.60)	6.03_(1.37)	1.64	4.26_(1.58)	6.36_(1.29)	2.10	915
G5	4.90_(1.20)	6.69_(0.88)	1.79	4.76_(1.66)	6.52_(1.43)	1.76	4.57_(1.72)	6.59_(1.30)	2.02	1135
G6	3.61_(1.16)	6.32_(1.02)	2.71	4.41_(1.88)	6.70_(1.55)	2.29	5.50_(1.40)	7.50_(0.95)	2.00	707
G7	3.62_(1.44)	6.55_(0.99)	2.93	3.77_(1.49)	6.14_(1.01)	2.37	3.32_(1.45)	5.96_(1.02)	2.64	974
Total										10,878

^aNumber of observations for IgTotal; the numbers of records for IgM and IgG differ slightly from those for IgTotal
^bAll differences between the High and Low selection lines are significant from G1 onwards, when tested based on a two-sided t-test

ISSN: 1297-9686