Non-Linear Models for Growth Curves in Large White Turkeys

Authors: TURGAY ŞENGÜL, SELAHATTİN KİRAZ

Abstract: The present work aimed to model the growth curves of male and female turkeys with respect to their live weight-age relationships and to determine a non-linear model explaining their growth curve better. For this purpose four different non-linear models were used to define growth curves of turkeys, namely Gompertz, Logistic, Morgan-Mercer-Flodin (MMF), and Richards. The coefficients of determination for these models were 0.9975, 0.9937, 0.9993, and 0.9966 for females and 0.9974, 0.9933, 0.9993, and 0.9969 for males, respectively. Considering model selection criteria, Gompertz, Logistic and Richards models seen to be suitable models for explaining Large White turkey growth.

Keywords: Large White turkeys, growth curves, non-linear models

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