Comparison of the performance of Nigerian indigenous chickens from three agro-ecological zones 

Adedokun  Sunday Adetayo and Sonaiya Emmanuel Babafunso

 Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture
Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria.
sadedok@oauife.edu.ng

Abstract

Nigerian indigenous chicken (NIC) from three agro-ecological zones (Rain Forest, RF; Derived Savanna, DS; and Guinea Savanna, GS) were evaluated for age at first egg, egg production and egg weight, percent hen-day egg production and percent laying mortality.  Data for this work were collected over a period of 72 weeks.  A total of 579 eggs from DS and RF zones and 505 growers from DS, GS and RF were evaluated.  Data were compiled by Dbase IV and analysed using the General Linear Model (GLM) procedure of Statistical Analysis System (SAS). Agro-ecological zones, age and sex were the fixed effects in the model.  Means for each variable effect were compared using the Least-Square Analysis of Variance and Duncan option of SAS.  For all the traits evaluated, there was no significant difference  between the chickens from the three ecological zones. Hence, the Nigerian indigenous chickens from these zones cannot be said to belong to different genetic groups.

 Key words: Agro-ecological zones, bodyweight, egg production, mortality, Nigerian indigenous chicken.                          

Introduction

Village poultry production is mostly based on the scavenging indigenous domestic fowl (Gallus domesticus).  The genetically unimproved local chickens remain predominant in African villages despite the introduction of exotics and crossbred types. This is due to the fact that farmers have not been able to afford the high input requirements of these introduced breeds (Kaiser 1990). 

The Nigerian indigenous chicken under semi-intensive management system lays between 60 and 80 eggs per year (Hill and Modebe 1961).  Their egg production was reported to be improved substantially by caging (Akinokun 1971).  The body weight of the indigenous chicken has been reported to be between 0.9 and 1.8 kg (Payne 1990). Age at sexual maturity, average egg weight and egg production to 8 months were reported to be 169.5±2.8 days, 34.5±0.7g and 99.6±7.7, respectively (Akinokun 1990). 

Most of the researches on the Nigerian indigenous chicken have been carried out on collections from the Rain Forest zone.  The aim of this study was to evaluate chickens from three different agro-ecological zones for their reproductive and growth performance.

Materials and methods

The study was carried out at the Poultry unit of the Teaching and Research Farm, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife. Two approaches were used in establishing the parent population.  In the first approach, 579 hatchable eggs from two agro-ecological zones (Rain Forest (386), Ogun and Osun states; and Derived Savanna (193), Kwara State). In the second approach, 505 grower chickens were purchased from six locations.  These locations were Nsukka and Sagamu (Rain Forest [170]; RF); Ilorin and Makurdi (Derived Savanna [165]; DS); and Kaduna and Jos (Guinea Savanna [170]; GS). Stocks of comparative weight with the hatched stock were purchased.  Birds were brooded on the floor and transferred into cages at point of lay. For those purchased as growers, age at which the first egg was dropped (AFE) was taken to be 20 weeks.  Egg production data were collected for thirteen 4-week periods (52 weeks).

Commercial feed and water were given ad libitum throughout the duration of the experiment. Routine health management was carried out during the period of the experiment. Data were collected on body weight, age at first egg, egg weight, egg production, per cent hen-day egg production, and per cent laying mortality. 

Data were analysed using the General Linear Procedure of SAS (1986) and were subjected to analysis of variance for unequal sub-class numbers using the following model:

            Y_ijk = U + G_i + S_j + (GS)_ij + E_ijk

where:  Y_ijk = observed value of a dependent variable;  U= Overall mean;     G_i = Effect of the ith (agro-ecozone) group (1,2,3); S_j = Effect of the jth sex (j = m, f);  (GS)_ij Effect of the interaction between group (ecotype) and sex. E_ijk = Random error associated with each observation (o,s²).

 
Results

From the 2nd week to the 40th week, there was no significant difference in mean body weight of both the male and female chickens from the DS (Table1). At day old, however, male chicks were significantly heavier than the female chicks. Unlike the chickens from the DS, males from the Rain Forest (RF) between the 15th week and the 72nd week, were significantly heavier than the females from the RF.  On a sex basis, DS females were significantly heavier than females from the RF from age 20 weeks till the 72nd week.  Males from DS were significantly heavier than males from the RF from day old until the 6th week when the difference disappeared. 

For all the ecological zones, egg production was not significantly different for all the ages in lay except at the eleventh month where the mean number of eggs produced by hens from the Guinea Savanna was significantly higher (P<0.05) than those from the Rain Forest (Table 2).  There was no difference in age at first egg for birds from all the ecological zones.  

                There was no significant difference in the mean egg weight of hens from Derived Savanna (DS), Guinea Savanna (GS) and the Rain Forest (RF) throughout the period of the study except in the second month-in-lay when the mean egg weights from DS and GS were significantly higher than from the RF (Table3). Mean egg weight tended to increase with month-in-lay. 

The peak hen-day percentages fall within the second month-in-lay for all the zones (Table 4).  Percent laying mortality was zero for all the agro-ecological zones.

 Discussion 

The difference in mean body weight of male chicks from the DS which was significantly heavier than those from the RF from day-old to the fifth week after which the difference disappeared may be attributed to maternal effect arising from the egg size (Nwosu 1990; Asuquo 1990).  For chickens that were produced from eggs purchased from the RF, sexual dimorphism was not noticeable until the fifteenth week when the males were significantly heavier than the females.  This is different from what Olori (1992) observed for chickens from the same ecological zones (Yoruba).  He reported that sexual differentiation became apparent with the male being significantly heavier as from the seventh week.  Likewise, mean body weights of chickens from the RF was higher than what Olori (1992) reported for chickens from the same zone.  This difference in body weight could be partly explained bearing it in mind that unlike the study Olori conducted, eggs were purchased from different ecological zones without any mandate to exclude eggs produced by a particular strain or ecotype of NIC.  Hence, eggs from Fulani chickens may have been purchased along with those of the non-Fulani and it has been reported that Fulani chickens are a heavier strain (Atteh 1990; Olori 1992) than other NIC.   

Mean egg number of 80-90 per hen per 280 days was higher than the 60 - 80 eggs per annum reported by Hill and Modebe (1961) for hen raised semi-intensively.  The number of eggs produced could have been higher if records for the 5th and 6th months-in-lay were used.  Records for these periods were removed because feeds were rationed due to unavailability of raw materials caused by political crises.  Mean egg production fell drastically as from the 11th month-in-lay.  This could be due to their age in lay, which is a pointer to the fact that NIC could not be said to be a persistent layer.  Johnson (1986) reported that decrease in egg production with age is in part caused by a reduction in the number of follicles reaching the phase of rapid growth. Hence NIC could be said to have reached this stage sooner than exotic hens. The mean age at first egg of 161 days (23 weeks) falls within the range reported by Sonaiya and Olori (1990) but is less than the169 days reported by Akinokun (1990).   

The mean egg weight of NIC from the three ecological zones for 280-day egg production ranged between 32.1+0.8g and 42.9+1.7g. The overall mean value obtained shows that the mean egg weight (36.8 g) of the NIC from this experiment was higher than the 34.5+0.7g and 33.37+0.84 g reported by Akinokun (1990) and Nwosu and Omeje (1985),  respectively.

Percent hen-day egg production for the NIC from the three agro-ecological zones showed that they reached their peak egg production in the second (DS) and third (GS and RF) month-in-lay.  The highest peak of 54.9% was recorded for hens from the Derived Savanna. This peak value is less than the 60.8% reported for hybrid Hubbard layers (Asuquo and Ofobrukata 1991) and the 63% peak hen-day egg production for eight breeds and strains of chickens commonly used for commercial egg production in Nigeria as reported by Akinokun (1974). This shows that NIC may not be persistent layers. 

As age in lay increased, the mean egg weight tended to increase but the difference between hens from the three agro-ecological zones was not significant.  

References 

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 Received 3 December 2000

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