Fertility and hatchability characterization of three strains of egg type chickens

The fertility and hatchability characteristics of three popularstrains of egg type chickens in Nigeria, namely chickens (ISABROWN), Alpha (Improved native) and the local strain (Pure native)chickens were studied. They were compared from twenty weeks ofage using 15 hens and 3 cocks from each strain. The parametersrecorded were egg production, egg weight, percent fertility andhatchability. The experiment was replicated three times. The dataobtained showed that the improved native strain produced moreeggs followed by the exotic strain and lastly, the pure native strain.ISA Brown strain and improved native strain were similar in eggweight; but performed better than pure native and the other strains.The ISA Brown recorded mean egg weight of 59.27  0.02, Improvednative recorded mean egg weight of 53.10  002 and the pure nativerecorded mean egg weight of 41.00  0.02. Conversely, fertility washighest in the pure native strain (86.04) followed by improved nativestrain 83.08) and the exotic strain recorded the least percent fertilityof (68.21). Hatchability was highest in the improved native strainswith percentage hatchability of 77.33, followed by the pure native ofpercentage hatchability of 73.55 and ISA Brown (exotic) recorded theleast percentage hatchability of 61.24. From the findings, theimproved native did well in all the parameters investigated and hasenough room to carry out selection for improvement.

Keywords:

Fertility , Hatchability , Egg , Strain