Genetic calculator is a web-based application published by Martin Rasek. It is a useful application to find out the results of planned crosses. Genetic Calculator can handle several species of birds, especially parrots.
For the lovebird category there are three options that you can find on the home page. You can choose between Peachfaced agapornis, abysinnian lovebird, and of course white eye ring (fischer).
In this article I will only focus on the genetic calculator for the fischer species, but basically it can be applied to almost all species, it's just that the name of the mutation or the way of inheritance is different.
Explanation of the menu in the Genetic Calculator
Symbols on Genetic Calculator
In the column that I marked in orange is information for the genetic symbol of each mutation, you can ignore it when using it if it is not a written purpose.Mutation list in the genetic calculator menu
In the column that I marked in purple is the information line that contains the name of the mutation in the internationally recognized lovebirds, for this reason sometimes the old version does not include the latest lovebirds mutation. Maybe it has not been recognized or is still in the process of research.Genetic Calculator inherit mode table
in the blue column is a column of information about how to inherit, for more details I have written on the complete guide page of the lovebirds mutation. For a brief explanation, you can read it at the bottom of the genetic calculator application.In theVisualmenu is a column for inputting the type of mutation and must be phenotypically observable, while for birds that genetically have a carrier gene or split you can mark the dot available in theSplit tocolumn after you put a dot in the Visual column.
There are alsodfandsfcolumns for incomplete dominant pairs. As for the dark factor, there is aT1menu to mark the green series andT2the blue series (CPR and PPR mutations).
Don't forget to pay attention to the table1.0is the column for male bird input and0.1for female birds. After all the inputs you make sure are in accordance with the lovebirds program you have, then click on theGeneratebutton which serves to calculate the predicted results of the crosses you want to know.
If you want to repeat from the beginning or input incorrectly, theResetbutton serves to return the application to the first mode opened.
How to operate the genetic calculator
In this tutorial I have a male with a visual color of blue sf violet that I will pair with a dilute blue female. Before I actually pair the two mutations, I first want to know the prediction of the acquisition of chicks through the genetic calculator.
Enter the male column in the genetic calculator
You can see in figure 1 for the blue sf violet male you have to mark the 1.0 column for the base mutation as shown in the blue column. Then also mark the "violet" column. Note, the dot should be in the (sf) column as violet in this case is a single factor.
Enter the female column in the genetic calculator
Next for the female parent is dilute blue, the focus is on the "0.1" column then put a mark on the basic mutation in the blue column and the combination in the dilute column.After all the marks are confirmed to be correct and in accordance with the facts of the birds in the aviary then press "generate" to find out the results of the acquisition of the pair of lovebirds that we have marked before. Image
From various experiments and data matching between this web-based application and the facts in the aviary, it is really appropriate. As long as you provide input correctly according to the phenotype and genotype conditions of the lovebirds you have.
Thus the tutorial on using genetic calculator, hopefully it will be useful and inspiring for hobbyists and breeders of lovebirds.