This study was conducted to investigate the influence of strain on production traits, egg fertility, hatchability, dressing percentage, survival and docility of indigenous Guinea fowls in Ghana. A total of 700 keets (F 1 generation) hatched from four strains of indigenous Guinea fowls were randomly picked from a large population at a day old and reared for 32 weeks. At 8 th was significantly (p<0.05) highest in Pearl strain. Age at first egg was significantly (p<0.05) earlier in the Lavender than the Pearl, White and Black but delayed in the Pearl. Again, the Pearls were significantly (p<0.05) superior in egg weight, percentage hen day egg production and fertility. No significant differences were observed in post-brooding daily weight gain, feed intake, FCR, docility by heterophil/lymphocyte ratio and post-brooding survival of the strains. Hatchability was significantly (p<0.05) higher in the Black. The White strain had significantly (p<0.05) better dressing percentage. Pre-brooding survival was significantly (p<0.05) higher in the Pearls and lower in the Black. Lavender was docile (p<0.05) as compared to the other breeds. It was concluded that given the same treatment, the Pearl strain had the potential to perform fairly well in most of the traits studied, hence are recommended for higher production while the Black strain should be used for hatchability and the Lavender for docility improvement.

The objective of the experiment was to investigate the influence of organic (poultry) manure, inorganic manure (N.P.K) and their combination on the growth and yield of sweet pepper in the transitional zone of Ghana. The experiment was conducted at the research field of the College of Agriculture Education, University of Education Winneba, Mampong campus in 2017. The experiment was laid out in randomized complete block design (RCBD) which consisted of four treatments with 4 replications. The treatment groups were: Control (no soil amendment), 10 t/ha PM, 300 kg/ha N.P.K, and 5 t/ha PM + 150 kg/ha N.P.K. All the treatments were given fair and equal attention in terms of watering, weeding and disease and pest control. The result showed that 10 t/ha PM recorded (P=.05) the tallest plant height, greater number of leaves and leaf area per plant, days taken for 50% bud appearance and flowering, the highest number of flowers per plant and the minimum days to fruit set, highest number of fruit set minimum days to harvesting with the control been the least in all traits. Similarly, 10 t/ha PM recorded (P=.05) had the highest number of fruits per plant, average fruit weight and fruit yield while the control treatment recorded the least in all traits. This study concludes that the application of poultry manure improves the productivity of sweet pepper. This study recommends that 10 t/ha PM is an ideal for maximum vegetative growth and yield of sweet pepper.

Aims: This study was conducted to determine the influence of season and day length on production traits, egg characteristics, fertility and hatchability of laying Guinea fowls (Numida meleagris). Study Design: Factorial design was used for the study. Place and Duration of Study: The study was conducted at the Poultry Unit of the Department of Animal Science Education, University of Education, Winneba, Ghana, Mampong campus from September, 2015 to December, 2016. Methodology: Four (4) hens and one (1) male per replicate and fifteen (15) per treatment were each subjected to 12 hours of artificial light and 12 hours of darkness (12L:12D), 14hours of artificial light and 10 hours of darkness (14L:10D), 16hours of artificial light and 8 hours of darkness (16L:8D) and 18hours of artificial light and 6 hours of darkness (18L:6D). Each group was replicated three times and reared in three seasons (Dry-December-March, Major rains-April-July and Minor rains-August-November) in a 3x4 factorial experiment. Data were analyzed using General Linear Model procedure of SAS. Results: Results showed that egg weight, hen-day egg production and egg mass increased (P= .05) with increasing day length. Similar results were observed for yolk height, yolk weight and albumin height. Most production traits, egg characteristics, fertility and hatchability attained the highest (P= .05) value in the major rainy season. Conclusion: It was concluded that day length of 14-16 hours is sufficient for improved laying performance and that breeding cycles should be planned to coincide with the major rainy season.

The study was carried out at the poultry section of the Department of Animal Science farm, University of Education Winneba (Mampong - Ashanti campus, Ghana) from July, 2018 to September, 2018. Data were collected from fifty randomly selected and tagged birds. The data were collected weekly for eight weeks., Head length (HL), Beak length (BL), Body length (BL), Wing length (WL), shank length (SL), shank circumference(SC) and height(H) were taken randomly on five birds in each replicate at a day in every two weeks using tape measure and Vernier calipers. The data collected were analyzed using simple linear regression analysis. The results from the study indicated that, all linear body measurements were significantly (P<0.01) effected for the model, intercepts and slopes of the regression lines with linear response with the best predictor of body weight indicated for shank circumference. It was concluded from the study that; linear body measurements could be used to predict the body weight of broiler chickens. It is recommended that in areas, especially rural areas, where weighing balance or scale may not be readily available, a tailor’s tape can be used to measure linear body parameters and thereafter used to estimate body weight of chickens from the predictive equation.

This study on indigenous Guinea fowls in Ghana was undertaken to estimate genetic variation and heritability of traits in these birds. The study was conducted at the Poultry Section of the Animal farm of the Department of Animal Science Education, University of Education, Winneba, Mampong-Ashanti campus, Ghana, from 2015 to 2018. The data used in the present experiment were collected from six hundred keets (300 males and 300 females) produced from randomly selecting and mating 110 dams and 22 sires and consisted of 780 records collected over a period of 3 years. The genetic parameters were estimated using sire-son, sire-daughter and dam-daughter regression analysis.  Body weight and 8-month weight gain showed the greatest additive genetic variation, with survival, docility, dressing percentage, age at first egg, egg weight, egg number, fertility, hatchability traits, feed intake and FCR showing relatively low additive genetic variation.  Moderate to high heritability estimates were obtained for body weight, weight gain at ages 1day to 2 months, 2-4 months in females, 4-6 months in males, docility, feed intake in females and feed conversion ratio in both males and females. Similarly, moderate to high heritability estimates were also obtained for age at first egg, egg weight and egg numbers. However, all other parameters considered in this study had low heritability estimates. This study concludes that, the results could be used to initiate Guinea fowl selection breeding programmes.