Genetic-environmental interactions and antibody response in chickens to two antigens.

Chickens from lines selected for either a high (HA) or low (LA) antibody response to sheep erythrocytes were either socialized, ignored, or stressed before being injected with two different erythrocyte antigens. Correlation between the antibody responses to the two antigens and the difference between the titers of the HA and LA lines was greatest when the chickens were socialized in an optimum-stress environment. The antibody responses of individual chickens to the two antigens was influenced by their heterophil/lymphocyte ratios.