HERITABILITY AND REPEATABILITY ESTIMATES OF SOME MEASURABLE TRAITS OF SHIKA BROWN® CHICKENS IN ALIERO

Abstract

A total of 566 chicks hatched from 96 ShikaBrown® chicken were used for this study at the Kebbi State University of Science and Technology, Aliero, Nigeria. Growth performance data were collected from the first week through week 18 and data obtained were analyzed using the Generalized Linear Model Procedure of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Generally, heritability estimates (h2) for all the traits studied ranged from low to high. The h2 estimated were 0.06±0.00, 0.57±0.01, 0.77±0.01, 0.27±0.01 and 0.09±0.01 for weekly egg production, egg weight, hatch weight, fertility and hatchability, respectively. The h2 for body weight of male chicks was lowest h2 (0.06±0.00) at week 2 and highest (0.53±0.01) at week 8, while that of female chicks was 0.40±0.01 at week 2 and 0.91±0.02 at week 18. The repeatability estimates for body weight of male chicks were high, and ranged from 0.52±0.02 at week 2 to 0.66±0.02 at week 8.