EFFECT OF GENOTYPE ON EGG FERTILITY, HATCHABILITY AND CHICK WEIGHT IN TRANSYLVANIAN NAKED NECK CHICKENS AND THEIR CROSSES WITH NIGERIAN INDIGENOUS CHICKENS
Keywords:
Transylvanian naked neck, Thermotolerance, Embryonic development, Crossbred chicks, GenotypeAbstract
Egg fertility, embryonic mortality, hatchability and chick weight were compared among Transylvanian naked neck (TNN; 100T) chickens and the crosses with Nigerian indigenous (NI) chickens containing 75% (75T), 50% (50T) and 25% (25T) TNN genes. No significant (p>0.05) effect of genotype were observed in the egg fertility and embryonic mortality in TNN chickens and their crosses with NI chicken. Hatchability of set and fertile eggs were not significantly (p>0.05) affected by the genotype. However, chick weight was significantly (p<0.05) influenced by the genotype. The 100T chickens had the highest chick weight (32.3g), though not different from those of 75T. The crossbred chicks (50T and 25T) recorded only 23 and 11% reduction in weight compared to 100T chicks respectively. Crossing TNN chickens with NI chickens may not affect hatching results, except egg weight. Day-old weight of NI chicks could be improved by crossbreeding with TNN chickens.