CORRELATIONS AMONG FERTILITY AND HATCHABILITY OF LOCAL CHICKEN GENOTYPES IN THE HUMID TROPICAL ENVIRONMENT

Abstract

A study was conducted to determine the effect of genotype on fertil ity and hatchability of local chicken in the humid tropical environment. The genotypes were Frizzle, Naked neck and Normal feathered local chickens. A total of ninety-nine (99) adult local chickens were selected for the experiment comprising of three genotypes with a total number of (90) hens, and (9) cocks (33 Frizzle, 33 Naked neck and 33 Normal feathered). The experiment was divided into 3 treatments; a genotypic group was treatment and was replicated three times with 11 birds per replicate. The mating procedure was random mating. The following were the mating system: Frizzle x Frizzle (F x F), Naked neck x Naked neck (Nax Na) and Normal feathered x Normal feathered (Nfx Np). The hatching eggs were collected twice a day for eight (8) weeks and marked with indelible pen for proper identification. The fertility and hatchability of egg traits studied were: Average egg weight, Fertility, Hatchability on fertile eggs, Hatchability on set eggs, Dead in germ, Dead in shell, Normal chicks, Abnormal chicks, chicks weight. The relationships among the hatchabil ity traits were determined using Pearson's product-moment correlation coefficient (r). Correlations between AEWT and CWT and between DIG and DIS were positive and significant (p<0.05). There was negative and significant (p<0.01) correlation between normal chicks and abnormal normal frizzle feathered local chicks respectively. Correlations between AEWT and CWT was positive and significant (p<0.05). There were negative and significant (p<0.05) and (p<0.01) correlations between dead in shell and Dead in germ, and between Normal chicks and abnormal normal feathered respectively. This study shows that naked neck is an important variety of local chicken with excellent fertility and hatchability traits. The present findings could assist in the design of long-term genetic improvement programme for local chicken production in Nigeria