Abstract
The study was conducted to investigate the body dimension, morphometric features and inheritance pattern of indigenous dwarf chicken (IDC) of Bangladesh under intensive management condition. The experiment was conducted at Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU) poultry farm for a period of 28 months from March 2013 to June 2015 including a total of 979 birds. Body weight, shank length and circumference, chest girth, length of trunk, wing, keel and body, and body conformation indices were recorded at 8, 24 and 52 weeks of age. The average shank length, shank circumference and live weight at 24th week in adult dwarf males and females were 7.38 and 4.37 cm, 6.20 and 3.63 cm, and 1650 and 1067 g, respectively. The reduction of live weight for dwarf male and female chickens relative to their normal shank counterpart (NSC) at same age was 14.06 and 16.05%, respectively. Length of body, trunk, wing, shank and keel of IDC were also significantly shorter than NSC at all ages. The indices of shape, massiveness and long leggedness of NSC were significantly greater than IDC almost all ages. Shank lengths of day old chicks were measured within 1.4-1.6 cm. The ratio of non-dwarf and dwarf in indigenous chicken populations was found 9:7 for 1st generation where significant deviation observed in subsequent generations. Among the dwarf progeny, the male and female ratio was close to 1:1. Current hypothesis is in favor of autosomal dwarfism control by at least 2 pairs of genes where duplicate recessive gene interaction also known as complementary gene effect has probably been exerted between two pairs of genes. In conclusion, the present estimates give some insight information on morphometry and body conformational aspects between normal shanked and dwarf chickens which relate with lowered motoric activity, reduced metabolic rate and their body surface-mass makes the dwarf birds suitable for hot-humid climate like Bangladesh.
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