Evaluation of growth and reproductive traits of Nigerian local chicken and exotic chicken Ndofor-Foleng H.M.*, Oleforuh-Okoleh Vivian1, Musongong G.A.2, Ohageni J., Duru U. E. Department of Animal Science, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria 1Rivers State University of Science and Technology, Nkpolu-Oroworokwu, Port Harcourt, Nigeria 2Catholic University of Cameroon (Catuc), Bamenda, Cameroon *Corresponding Author: harriet.ndoforfoleng@unn.edu.ng.
Online published on 12 August, 2015. Abstract An experiment was carried out to evaluate some reproductive and growth traits of Nigerian indigenous light ecotype and exotic chicken for possible egg and meat-type chicken development. This study was undertaken to contribute to the genetic improvement of the Nigerian indigenous chicken by crossing with an exotic egg type strain Isa Brown. The birds were arranged in 3 breeding groups: BG1 (Local cocks (EC) X Exotic females (EF)), BG2 (exotic cocks (EC) X local females (LF)) and BG3 (local cocks (LC) X local females (LF)). The hens were subjected to natural mating and eggs laid were collected according to breeding groups and hatched. The offsprings that were generated were used for growth performance studies. Data collected were subjected to analysis of variance. Results indicated significant (P<0.05) effect of genotype on fertility and hatchability of eggs. Percentage fertility across the genotypes were 70.00, 72.60 and 82.00, while hatchability was 69.70, 84.00, and 60.97%, for BG1, BG2 and BG3 respectively. The cross bred (BG1 and BG2) had higher egg weight (60.42g, 51.40g), than BG1 (38.64g). There was significant effect (p<0.05) in all the weekly body weights studied. The findings showed that breeding local pullets with local cocks, improved fertility while hatchability were improved by breeding local pullets with exotic cock. Body weights of chicks hatched from eggs of the exotic pullets with local cock were better than the other groups. Exotic chickens are recommended for the improvement body weight of the light ecotype chicken in Nigeria. Top Keywords Body weight, Exotic, Fertility, Hatchability, Indigenous. Top |