Comparative study of growth performance, egg production, egg characteristics and haemato-biochemical parameters ofDesi, Fayoumi and Rhode Island Red chicken

Abstract

A total of 2001 un-sexed day-old chicks of each Desi, Fayoumi and Rhode Island Red (RIR) breeds were obtained from hatchery of Poultry Research Institute, Rawalpindi. The birds were maintained on deep litter system for a period of 72 weeks. In floor pens, each breed was reared separately in a single pen until seven weeks of age when 2001 birds were randomly distributed between pens, with 21 to 24 birds of the same breed per pen (2.00 to 2.50 ft 2 /bird). The results revealed that the average day-old weight was highest in RIR, intermediate in Desi and lowest in Fayoumi. The RIR breed consumed more feed and gained maximum (p B0.05) weight than those of Desi and Fayoumi breeds at all ages of growing phase. The feed conversion was poor (pB0.05) in Desi and better in RIR breed. Desi and Fayoumi chicks had lowest (p B0.05) mortality than RIR breed. The breast and thigh meat composition was found non-significant (p 0.05) amongst three breeds. The age of sexual maturity was lowest in Fayoumi followed by RIR and Desi. The highest egg production was obtained by RIR with 41% followed by Fayoumi (36%) and the Desi breed (29%). The egg weight and egg mass were highest (p B0.05) in RIR, but non-significant (p 0.05) differences were found between Fayoumi and Desi breeds. The internal egg quality parameters including yolk weight, albumen weight, yolk plus albumin weight and albumin height were significantly higher in RIR breed than those of Fayoumi and Desi breeds. However, shell and yolk thickness did not differ significantly amongst three breeds. There was non-significant (p 0.05) difference in blood glucose, triglyceride, cholesterol, calcium, protein, uric acid and alkaline phosphatase values amongst three breeds. There was non-significant (p 0.05) difference in haematological values among all breeds. The total erythrocyte count, haemoglobin and packed cell volume increased with the advancement of age. However, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, mean corpuscular volume and mean corpuscular haemoglobin values decreased gradually with the advancement of age. It may be concluded that overall RIR chickens performed better than Fayoumi and Desi chickens. However, early age of sexual maturity was noticed in Fayoumi chickens, and low mortality was observed in Desi chickens.

Effect of age on production characteristics of Boschveld indigenous chickens of South Africa reared intensively

“…This is higher than values reported by Islam et al (2014) for the Vanaraja breed, namely 48.32 ± 0.21 g at 32 weeks, and 53.07 ± 0.24 g at 40 weeks old,and an indigenous breed, namely 27.85±0.04 g at 32 weeks and 32.06 ± 0.07 g at 40 weeks old, all reared under an extensive system. Similarly, Khawaja et al (2012) reported average egg weights of 44.42 g, 43.35 g, and 56.83 g for Desi, Fayoumi and Rhode Island Red (RIR) breeds of chicken, respectively, reared up to 72 weeks old, which were comparatively lower than values recorded by the Boschveld chickens. Although the Boschveld birds came into lay at 21 weeks old (147 days), the Varanaja, an indigenous breed of India, and the Rakai, an indigenous breed of Uganda, came into lay at 187.45, 201.31 and 154 days, respectively (Islam et al, 2014;Roothaert et al, 2011).…”

“…The FCR, which is the ratio of feed intake and bodyweight gain, indicated a low value, and FE, which is the ratio of bodyweight gain and feed intake, also showed a low value. Khawaja et al (2012) reported FCR ranging from 3.5 to 7.5 in Desi, Fayoumi and RIR breeds of chicken, with higher values at the growing stage, and lower values at the production stage. These values are higher than those of the animals used in this study, even as the average weight of the birds at 0-20 weeks of lay was 1.23 kg, while the Boschveld was 2.38 kg at 44 weeks of lay.…”

“…A value of 2.98 kg was reported at 40 weeks for Vanaraja reared extensively, and 2.5 kg at 45 weeks for the Rakai when reared extensively. However, the Boschveld is heavier than the pure indigenous chicken of India, which weighs 0.78 kg and 1.27 kg at 20 and 40 weeks, respectively, as well as the Desi, Fayoumi and RIR, with weights of 1.15 kg, 1.14 kg and 1.61 kg, respectively (Khawaja et al, 2012)at 72 weeks old. This means that the Boschveld indigenous chicken is a heavy breed.…”

“…This value of 147 days is higher than those reported by Grobbelaar et al(2010) for the Potchefstroom Koekoek (138.5 days), Venda (139.0 days) and Ovambo (134.5 days) breeds. However,in a comparative study in Pakistan, Khawaja et al (2012) reported values of 204, 135 and 147 days old at first egg for Desi, Fayoumi and RIR breeds of chicken reared intensively.According to Khawaja et al (2012), the variation in age at first egg among breeds may be because of differences in bodyweight prior to the onset of sexual maturity. This implies that age at first egg is correlated with bodyweight according to breeds: the smaller the bodyweight, the earlier the age at sexual maturity, as with the Fayoumi.…”

“…Khawaja et al (2012) reported a daily feed intake (g/bird) of 132.80 g, 120 g and 136.07 g for Desi, Fayoumi and RIR breeds of chicken, respectively, up to 72 weeks old. In comparison with the Boschveld breed, these values were higher in the Desi and RIR, but lower in Fayoumi Okoro et al (2005) reported that several factors influence feed intake in laying hens, which include environment, water, nutrition, genotype, health, production state, and management practices.…”