Evaluation of Juvenile Growth, Feed Efficiency and Body Conformation Traits of Native × CSFL Crossbred Chicken under Intensive System of Rearing

Abstract

A study was conducted to evaluate the performance of Native × CSFL F1 crossbred chicks up to 8 weeks of age under intensive management system. Ninety (90) chicks were used for this study. Body weight and feed intake were recorded weekly. The body conformation traits were measured at 6 th and 8 th weeks of age. The 8 th week body weight of males and females were 1016.97±45.13g and 830.33±19.64g respectively. The weekly feed conversion ratio (FCR) increased progressively from 1.50±0.08 at 1 st week to 4.38±0.89 at 8 th week of age. The 8 th week cumulative FCR was 3.23±0.15. At 6 th week of age, all recorded linear body measurements were higher in male chicks than the female chicks except body girth. At 8 th week of age, body girth, shank length, shank width and head width were significantly (P≤0.05) higher in male chicks than that of female chicks. From this study, it was concluded that the Native × CSFL F1 crossbred chickens could be reared profitably under intensive system of management because of its high 8 th week body weight and low FCR. Further, the cross being developed using local native germplasm, the birds could thrive and perform better in local climatic conditions in rural small scale farming.

Pectoral angle: a glance at a traditional phenotypic trait in chickens from a new perspective

“…In chickens (Gallus gallus (L.)), breast angle, or pectoral angle (PA), is one of the most commonly scored anatomical and conformational traits used in the selection of meat-type breeds (MTB; e.g. Siegel, 1962aSiegel, , 1962bSiegel, , 1963Siegel and Siegel, 1963;Mishra and Singh, 2011;Softić et al, 2011;Das et al, 2016;Pandey et al, 2018). With defining it as the angle that the height of the keel makes to the chest shape, its investigation has been carried out, as a rule, within single breeds.…”