Abstract
Chickens kept under free-range, backyard or semi-intensive systems in the developing countries have more diverse use and benefits to rural households. Their use varies from region to region and from community to community within a region. The study investigated growth, laying performance and survivability of six improved dual-purpose breeds in five agroecologies of Nigeria represented by the following states: Kebbi (Sudan savanna/northern Guinea savanna); Kwara (northern Guinea savanna/southern Guinea savanna); Nasarawa (southern Guinea savanna/derived savanna); Imo (lowland rainforest/swamp); and Rivers (freshwater swamp/mangrove swamp). On-farm data were obtained from 2100 smallholder poultry farmers that received an average of 30 birds (mixed sexes) of any one of the following dual-purpose breeds (Fulani, FUNAAB Alpha, Kuroiler, Noiler, Sasso and Shika-Brown) randomly allocated to them. The farmers used the backyard, scavenging system of management. Body weight and mortality records for cocks were taken for 18 weeks, while body weight, mortality, egg production and egg weight data were collected for hens up to 72 weeks. Compared with the local cocks (680 g), Kuroiler (1391 g), Sasso (1398 g) and Noiler (1461 g) had over 200 % body weight at 18 weeks. Hen day egg production (HDEP) was higher in Shika-Brown (45.9 %), FUNAAB Alpha (45.8 %) and Kuroiler (45.7 %) compared with the other breeds. Fulani, FUNAAB Alpha and Shika-Brown had higher survivabilities () than Noiler, Sasso and Kuroiler. Ranking of the breeds for growth, laying performance and survivability was as follows: Shika-Brown/Sasso FUNAAB Alpha/Noiler Kuroiler Fulani. The performance of the breeds was significantly () influenced by the agroecologies. The cock body weights for Fulani (1121.1 g), FUNAAB Alpha (1502.4 g) and Noiler (1459.2 g) were highest in Kebbi, while for Kuroiler (1561.0 g), Sasso (1695.9 g) and Shika-Brown (1131.6 g) cock body weights were highest in Imo. Across the states, Imo had the highest HDEP (62.8 %). Overall, the lowland rainforest/ freshwater swamp agroecologies supported the highest production performance of the breeds.
Highlights
In many developing countries chickens are reared under the free-range, backyard or semi-intensive system as a means of improving the livelihood of the people (Sonaiya, 1990, 2007; Kitalyi, 1998; Guèye, 2000; Kryger et al, 2010; Billah et al, 2013; Yusuf et al, 2014; Alemayehu et al, 2018)
In order to improve the productivity of chicken of smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa, two foreign-sourced tropically adapted breeds from India (Kuroiler) and France (Sasso) and four locally sourced breeds (FUNAAB Alpha, Noiler, Shika-Brown and Fulani) developed in Nigeria (Bamidele et al, 2019) were tested on-farm for growth, egg production and survivability in five agroecological zones in Nigeria
On-farm data were collected between August 2016 and August 2018 in five different agroecological zones represented by five states: Kebbi (Sudan savanna/northern Guinea savanna), Kwara, Nasarawa, Imo and Rivers states
Summary
In many developing countries chickens are reared under the free-range, backyard or semi-intensive system as a means of improving the livelihood of the people (Sonaiya, 1990, 2007; Kitalyi, 1998; Guèye, 2000; Kryger et al, 2010; Billah et al, 2013; Yusuf et al, 2014; Alemayehu et al, 2018). A knowledge of the production performance of traits of economic importance is required for formulation of breeding plans aimed at improving the livelihoods of smallholder chicken farmers (Yakubu et al, 2019). Improving genetic potentials of smallholder chicken requires testing different breeds in two or more environments in order to determine the magnitude of genotype × environment interaction (Falconer and Mckay, 1996; Nauta, 2009). In order to improve the productivity of chicken of smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa, two foreign-sourced tropically adapted breeds from India (Kuroiler) and France (Sasso) and four locally sourced breeds (FUNAAB Alpha, Noiler, Shika-Brown and Fulani) developed in Nigeria (Bamidele et al, 2019) were tested on-farm for growth, egg production and survivability in five agroecological zones in Nigeria. The study was carried out under the African Chicken Genetic Gains (ACGG) project in Nigeria with the aim of guiding decisions on the choice of appropriate smallholder chicken breeds
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