SEX-LINKED ALBINISM IN THE TURKEY

Abstract

In a type of imperfect albinism occuring in Bronze turkeys, nearly all melanic pigment is eliminated from the plumage. In the eye, some melanin is found in the retinal portions of the ciliary body and iris, but not in the pigment epithelium of the retina in the posterior part of the eye. Affected poults are blind. The condition is caused by a sex-linked recessive gene, al, which is lethal during embryonic development to about 75 per cent of the females carrying it. Most albinotic poults die within six weeks of hatching, partly because of the handicap imposed by their blindness. Differences between sex-linked imperfect albinism in the turkey and in the fowl are pointed out and the economic significance of the defect is discussed.