Evaluation of terminal crosses to assess the suitability of PD-6 line as a male line for Gramapriya chicken variety developed for rural poultry

Abstract

The comparative performance of the terminal crosses involving either Poultry Directorate-6 (PD-6) or Poultry Directorate-2 (PD-2) lines as male and Poultry Directorate-3 (PD-3) line as female parents was evaluated to studythe suitability of PD-6 line for production of Gramapriya rural chicken variety utilizing the performance data on 534 birds belonging to PD-6×PD-3 (254) and PD-2×PD-3 (280) crosses. The body weights were significantly higher in PD-6×PD-3 cross from four weeks onwards to till 14 weeks of age. Similarly, the shank length was also significantly higher in PD-6×PD-3 than PD-2×PD-3 cross at 4, 6 and 8 weeks of age. Sex significantly influenced the body weights from 4th week onwards in PD-6×PD-3 cross and from 6th week onwards in PD-2×PD-3. The adult body weights of females in both the crosses did not vary significantly except at 52 weeks of age. The live weight and dressing percentage were significantly higher in PD-6×PD-3 cross. All the slaughter parameters were similar in both the crosses without any significant variation except gizzard and feather proportions, which were significantly higher in PD-2×PD-3.The annual egg production in PD-6×PD-2 and PD-2×PD-3 crosses was 247.33 and 255.73 eggs, respectively. Therefore, the study concluded that, PD-6 line might be a suitable male line for production of Gramapriya chicken variety without affecting the performance.