Comparative analyses of growth response and genetic parameter estimates of some quantitative traits in three broiler strains in South-West, Nigeria

Abstract

A total of 150 pure strain broiler chicks comprising 50 each of Arbor Acre, Marshall and Ross were used for this experiment which lasted 10 weeks at the Poultry Breeding Unit of the Directorate of University Farms (DUFARMS) of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB), Ogun State Nigeria. The experiment was carried out to make comparative analyses of growth response and genetic parameter estimates of some quantitative traits (Body weight and linear body measurement) in Arbor Acre, Marshall and Ross broiler chicken strains in South-West, Nigeria. Growth performance data was collected from week 3 to week 10 and analysed using the Generalized Linear Model. Marshall broiler chicken strain had the highest growth rate and better growth performance followed by Ross and Arbor Acre in terms of body weight and linear body dimensions. Marshall and Ross attained mean weight of 1964.50±43.10 g and 1913.02±41.05 g, respectively, which were superior (p < 0.05) to Arbor Acre 1831.63±36.28 g at 10 weeks of age. Marshall Broiler chicken strain also had the highest estimates of heritability for body weight 0.46±0.04, followed by Arbor Acre and Ross with estimates of heritability of 0.38±0.12 and 0.26±0.06, respectively. However considering the linear body measurements, none of the broiler chicken strains maintained high estimates of heritability from 3^rd to 10^th week.