Evaluation of a three-way cross chicken developed for backyard poultry in respect to growth, production and carcass quality traits under intensive system of rearing

Abstract

Objective of the work was to develop a three-way cross for egg-type backyard chicken using male and female lines developed from exotic chickens. To improve the egg production further and to get colour plumage pattern, the two-way cross PD1 X IWI males were crossed with PD3 females to produce threeway cross (PD1 X IWI X PD3). The crossbred was evaluated for different traits upto 72 weeks of age. Sexual dimorphisms were evident from two weeks onwards for body weights and shank length differ significantly (P < .05) between male and female at 8, 12 and 16 weeks of age. Male were reared upto 16 weeks of age, and at 16 weeks, body weight of male and female were 1670 and 1096 g, respectively. Carcass quality measured at 16 week of age recorded 66.12% eviscerated carcass yield, 4.84% giblet and 0.30% abdominal fat. Egg production performance recorded from 17 to 72 weeks of age at 4 weeks interval showed significant (P < .05) difference between different periods, and peak egg production was recorded during 29-32 weeks. At 69-72 weeks period, the egg production per bird was 14.78 eggs. Egg production upto 40, 52, 64 and 72 weeks of age were 91.71, 105.84, 204.88 and 233.28 eggs, respectively. Age and weight at sexual maturity were 163.14 days and 1702 g, respectively. Egg weight recorded at 4 weeks interval starting from 20 weeks of age showed linear increase upto 56 weeks of age with significant differences at different ages. The results indicate that the cross may be of use for egg-type poultry in the backyard. However, before large-scale propagation, the cross has to be evaluated in the field. ARTICLE HISTORY

Genetic Studies on Growth Traits in Rajasri Variety of Backyard Chicken

“…Genetic correlations among body weights were ranged from 0.02 ± 0.14 (BW6-BW14) to 0.98 ± 0.01 (BW16 -BW18) respectively. These results were similar to the findings of Padhi et al (2015a) in Vanaraja and Reddy et al (2016) in Rajasri.…”

“…Heritability estimates through sire component ranged from 0.04 ± 0.016 (BW20) to 0.44 ± 0.05 (BW 0). In general, the heritability estimates have decreased in magnitude with age which is in agreement with the findings of Padhi et al (2015a) in Vanaraja and Reddy et al (2016) in Rajasri. Heritability estimates of body weight at 20 weeks of age (0.04) is close to zero indicates that almost all of the variability is due to environmental factors, with very little influence from genetic differences.…”

Studies on growth, carcass and meat quality traits in Aseel crosses suitable for small scale intensive broiler farming

“…The higher leg proportions in the present study might be due to the native Aseel chicken which had stronger legs and rural purelines which were under selection for higher shank length. Similar findings were reported by many authors (Haunshi et al 2013;Padhi et al 2016;Rajkumar et al 2016;Rajkumar et al 2017) in native and crossbred chicken. Liver proportion was significantly (P ≤ 0.05) higher in crosses with rural purelines than the broiler crosses (Table 5).…”

“…Significantly (P ≤ 0.05) lower feather proportion was observed in Aseel × PD-6 cross. The feather proportion and other offals were comparable to the earlier reports (Padhi and Chatterjee 2013;Padhi et al 2016) in crossbred chickens.…”

“…Generally, the native chicken meat is preferred when the birds weigh between 1.0 and 1.5 kg for its taste and tenderness. Higher body weights than the present study were reported by many authors in different varieties developed for rural poultry farming (RamaRao et al 2018; Rajkumar et al 2019), while lower body weights were observed in three way cross developed for egg purpose (Padhi et al 2016;. The variations in the performance may be due to the different chicken breeds/lines used for their development and also the purpose of their development either egg or dual purpose.…”