Genetic architecture of growth and production parameters in a laying cycle of 72 weeks in naked neck chickens

Abstract

A comprehensive study was undertaken to investigate the reproductive, growth and production performance in a complete production cycle of 72 weeks of age in naked neck broiler breeders. The data collected on chicks (927) for juvenile growth and 196 hens for production parameters produced from 40 sires and 160 dams in a pedigreed mating was analyzed for evaluating the performance in naked neck chicken. The mean fertility and hatchability (FES: fertile egg set and TES: total egg set) % was 81.09, 82.14 (FES) and 75.46 (TES), respectively in naked neck hens. The mean body weight at 4 and 6 weeks of age was 510.35and 1058.86g, respectively with a shank length of 79.62mm (6 weeks) with moderate to high heritability estimates. The ASM in naked neck birds was 160.11 days with moderate heritability (0.24). The body weight of hens at 20, 40, 52, 64 and 72 weeks of age was 2455.60, 3046. 89, 3297.44, 3542.89 and 3805.13g, respectively. The egg weight varied from 53.20 at 28 weeks of age to 70.45g at 72 weeks of age with low to moderate heritability. The part period egg production to 40 weeks was 64.18 with an annual production of 164.37eggs which was fairly reasonable for a broiler breeder chicken. The correlation coefficients revealed strong positive and significant association between body weights at different ages, body weights and egg weights, while negative association between body weights and egg production. The overall performance of naked neck broiler breeders suggests that it offers a bright future for tropical broiler production under the predictions of global warming and temperature rise.