Impact of immunocompetence index based selection on health conditions in broiler chicken

Present investigation was carried out to assess the impact of immunocompetence index based selection on the survivability of Synthetic Dam Line of broiler chicken. The base population (G₀) was screened for various immunocompetence traits, which were then combined in to an index, called immunocompetence (IC) index and two generations (G₁ and G₂) were obtained after selection for high and low IC index values. Significant differences in percent mortality patterns were noticed in the base population (P< 0.05) and G₁ generation (P<0.01), whereas, in G₂ generation, high index line had comparatively higher per cent mortality (2.07) as compared to the low index lines (1.29). However, the overall mortality rate was reduced substantially over the two generations of divergent IC index based selection in broiler chicken. The present investigation revealed that selective breeding for better immunocompetence status using IC index could lead to better health status in terms of reduced mortality in broiler chicken.