REPEATABILITY OF EGG QUALITY IN ISA BROWN LAYERS

Abstract

Repeatability is the likelihood of an individual repeating its performance at any given time in subsequent measurement. It expresses the proportion of the total variance that is due to permanent or non-localized differences between individuals. A total of fifty (50) eggs were collected daily continuously for ten days from fifty (50) selected ISA brown layers in a base population at 31st week of age. The birds were kept at Poultry Unit, Teaching and Research Farm, Olusegun Agagu University of Science and Technology Okitipupa,. Data collected on the egg quality were subjected to one-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) with the Computer aided Software, Statistical Analysis System (SAS, version 8), to estimate the repeatability of egg quality traits. Low to high estimates (0.11 to 0.81) were reported for most of the traits while 0.23, 0.11 and 0.12 were reported for egg weight, yolk weight and albumen height, respectively. The low estimates are indicative of strong environmental influence on the traits while the traits with high repeatability estimates require few record to effect selection for genetic improvement.