Immunocompetence traits and their association with production traits in CARI-Debendra chicken

The immunocompetence (IC) status of any animal breed indicates about its general response to diseases. Single hatched CARI-Debendra (CD) chicks (84) were evaluated for IC traits (in vivo antibody response to SRBC, serum lysozyme and serum IgG concentrations) and their association with production traits in layer. According to least square mean analysis, the CD population contains HA titre, serum lysozyme and serum IgG concentration of 5.739±0.436, 6.031±0.213μg/ml and 5.999±0.347μg/μl, respectively. But, the sex of CD bird has no significant effect on all the IC traits. Phenotypic correlations between the IC traits were low. The level of HA titre had no significant effect on any of the production trait. Serum lysozyme level had significant effect on BW40 and serum IgG had significant effect on EW28. Birds with medium or low serum lysozyme level revealed higher BW40 than birds with high level. Birds with high serum IgG concentration demonstrated higher EW28 than birds with low and medium levels.