HERITABILITY ESTIMATES OF SOME GROWTH TRAITS IN NIGERIAN HEAVY ECOTYPE LOCAL CHICKENS

Abstract

Growth qualities are important indicators of an animal's ability to grow, develop and improve. This study was carried out to estimate the genetic parameters of some growth traits in the Nigerian Heavy Local Chicken Ecotype (NHLCE) generated via artificial insemination. The NHLCE is a dual-purpose breed of chicken bred for both meat and eggs. The chicks used for this study were 306 in number and were generated from the Generation 8 Parent Stock of the NHLCE existing in the Teaching and Research Farm, Department of Animal Science, UNN. The results showed that the means for the growth traits such as Body weight (BW), Body Length (BL), Body Girth (BG), and Shank Length (SL) at week 8 were 567.57(g), 27.19(cm), 24.58(cm), and 11.81(cm) respectively. The heritability estimates for body weight ranged from 0.03 at day old to 0.42 at week 6, while the highest heritability estimate for body girth was 0.59 at week 6 and the lowest for body girth was 0.08 at day old. The heritability estimate for body length varied from 0.15 at day old to 0.49 at week 6 while that of shank length ranged from 0.45 at day old to 0.60 at week 6. The high heritability estimates recorded at week 6 indicated that breeding and selection decisions taken on the population week 6 will result in the highest predictive accuracy of high heritability and a successive advancement in the genetic improvement of the indigenous heavy ecotype chickens.