Comparative Evaluation of Growth Performance and Carcass Characteristics of Three Broiler Strains Raised in South Eastern Nigeria

Abstract

The growth performance and carcass characteristics of three commercial broiler strains reared in southeast Nigeria were investigated in this study. 288 day-old broiler chicks of Arbor acre, Hubbard and the Ross strains were assigned to six treatment groups (48 each) in a completely randomized design; each treatment was replicated three times at the rate of 16 birds per replicate. The treatments were designated as follows: Arbor acre female (AF), Arbor acre male (AM), Hubbard female (HF), Hubbard male (HM), Ross female (RF) and Ross male (RM). The birds were reared for 8 weeks. Data were collected on growth performance, 4th and 8th week carcass characteristics. Result on the growth performance parameters showed that average values for final body weight, total body weight gain, daily body weight gain, daily water intake and feed conversion ratio were significant (p<0.05). Result for 8th week carcass composition showed significant differences (p<0.05) for live weight, dressed weight, and weights of: wings, breast, back, legs, thigh, drumstick and shank in all treatments. It was concluded from this study that comparative sex evaluation revealed that the males of the three strains were superior in most of the traits studied at 8 weeks of age compared to their female counterparts. Subsequently, comparative strain evaluation revealed that the Ross had better performances in most of the traits studied than the Arbor acre and Hubbard.