Fig. 1

Body weight for purebred and crossbred progenies and heterosis of body weight for reciprocal crosses. A schematic diagram of two pure lines, Rhode Island White (R, layers) and Cornish (C, broilers), used as parental lines to produce the F1 generation (CC, CR, RC and RR), is shown in the upper left corner of the figure. Body weight of females (a) and males (b) from hatching to 8 weeks of age. Heterosis as a percentage (H%) of body weight for females (c) and males (d) in reciprocal crosses. The values of H% of body weight are shown below the figure. Values presented in blue and green indicate that H% was highly significant (P < 0.01). Values presented in black indicate that H% was not statistically significant (P > 0.05)