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Research Article - Research and Reports on Genetics (2017) Volume 1, Issue 1
Strain by environmental interaction effects on broiler chickens performance in the derived southern guinea Savannah region of Nigeria.
The study was conducted at a poultry farm along kilometer three, Gboko road, Makurdi, Nigeria. A total of 1004 day-old chicks of three commercial broiler strains, 360 marshal, 322 Arbor Acre and 322 Hubbard) were procured from three different reputable farms. The birds were brooded according to standard brooding technique. The birds were fed ad-lib with a commercial pelletized broiler starter feed containing 20% crude protein and 2800 kcal/kg metabolisable energy (from day one to 5th week. This was followed by a commercial broiler pelletized finisher diet containing 19% crude protein and 2900 kcal/kg ME to eight weeks of age. The study was conducted to provide information on the performance of some broiler brands to identify those that are suited for use under the humid tropical conditions of Nigeria. There were significant (P<0.05) differences in the effect of strain on daily body weight gain, feed consumption and feed conversion efficiency. Marshal consumed significantly more feed (129.00 g) than Hubbard and Arbor Acre (126.93 g and 123.19 g), respectively. Daily body weight gain was also highest in the marshal (320.00 g). This was followed by Arbore Acre (318.20 g) and least in the Hubbard strain (301.40 g). Arbore Acre had significantly highest feed conversion efficiency (2.5154 ± 0.09), followed by marshal (2.3913 ± 0.08) and least with Hubbard (2.3064+0.08). The energy requirement for body maintenance was least in Arbore acre strain, followed by Hubbard while Marshal Strains had highest energy requirement for maintenance. In the event of conditions limiting feed intake, the performance of Marshal and Hubbard strains will be grossly affected. These strains will be easily heat stressed compared to Arbore acre strain which require small amount of energy for maintenance. Feed intake limiting factors may not affect Arbore acre significantly as little feed energy will be diverted for maintenance. Arbore acre has superior performance. Marshal strain can be adopted and manage to attain market weight at six weeks exploiting the fast body weight gain while avoiding the large feed energy that will be required for maintenance at weeks 7 and 8.
Author(s): Gwaza DS, Ochefu J, Victor G