INVESTIGATION OF SOME MORPHOMETRIC, HAEMATOLOGICAL AND BIOCHEMICAL MARKERS FOR BODY WEIGHT IMPROVEMENT IN MARSHALL STRAIN OF BROILERS

Abstract

A study was conducted using a total of 160 day old unsexed broilers chicks, with the aim of investigating the relationship between some morphometric and blood profile in order to identify markers capable of improving body weight. The effects of sex on morphometric trait were also investigated. The birds were reared on deep litter, and fed starter and finisher mash at starter and finisher phases, respectively. Data were collected on some morphometric traits, haematological and biochemical parameters. The results revealed that there was no significant (P>0.05) effect of sex on body weight, breast girth and tibia length at four weeks of age. However, significant (P<0.05) sex effect was observed on body weight and tibia length at 8 weeks of age which was probably due to the principle of sexual dimorphism. Relationship between blood profile and some morphometric traits with body weight showed that there was no significant relationship except breast girth which was highly significant (P<0.01) with a correlation coefficient of 0.703. Therefore, highly polymorphic DNA-based techniques such as single nucleotide polymorphisms are advocated to develop reliable markers for improving body weight of broilers.