HERITABILITIES OF AND GENETIC CORRELATIONS BETWEEN SOME GROWTH TRAITS IN NIGERIAN LOCAL CHICKENS

Abstract

Heritabilities of and genetic correlations between body weight, shank length, keel length  and breast width in a population of Nigerian local chickens at 6 weeks of age were estimatedusing a total of 170 chicks of both sexes obtained from 5 sires each mated to 4 dams by  artifical insemination in a nested fashion. Average body weight, shank length, keel length and breast width at this age were 114.97g, 3.48cm, 3.35cm and 3.22cm, respectively.Genetic correlations between the traits were positive and high, ranging from 0.99 to 1.51. The moderate to high heritabilities (h_s²) of these growth traits at 6 weeks point to the existence of an appreciable amount of additive genetic variance in the local chicken population and indicate that improvement in these traits can be brought about by intrapopulation selection. The high genetic correlations indicate the pleiotropic action of genes controlling these traits and that, by direct selection for any one of them, genetic improvement in the others will be realized as correlated responses.