Antibody response of chickens to sheep red blood cells: crosses among divergently selected lines and relaxed sublines.

Crosses were made among lines of chickens that had undergone 30 generations of selection for high or low antibody response 5 d after an intravenous injection with SRBC, and between sublines in which selection was relaxed in generation 24. Antibody responses at 5, 10, and 14 d after injection were measured in the 4 lines and in reciprocal crosses among them. Divergence between the high and low lines selected for SRBC antibody was immediate and increased during selection. Although significant in both cases, separation of the relaxed subline from its respective selected line was greater in the high than the low line. Five-day SRBC titers of the relaxed lines and the crosses were intermediate to the high and low selected lines, with the direction and magnitude of heterosis being line dependent. A high proportion of chickens from low line mating combinations did not have detectable antibody titers at 10 and 14 d postinoculation with SRBC, precluding statistical analysis of these data. Results are discussed in the context of intra- and interlocus effects on the selected trait.