Reproductive performance of two backyard chicken varieties with 25% Aseel inheritance

Abstract

A study was conducted to evaluate the reproductive performance of two synthetic backyard varieties of chicken (Type-I: black Australorp (50%), WLH (25%) and Aseel (25%) and Type-II: black Australorp (50%), Synthetic (25%) and Aseel (25%)) developed at AICRP on Poultry Breeding, SVVU, Hyderabad. Day old chicks from each genetic group were reared under deep litter and were shifted to cage system in order to record bird's performance. Traits such as age at first egg (AFE), egg production and egg weight at forty weeks age, shell color, fertility and hatchability were examined. AFE (in days) were 173.20 and 168.45, egg productions were 68.46 and 69.04 and weights (in grams) at forty weeks of age were 48.86 and 49.94 in Type I and Type II varieties. Shell color varied widely from brown to white with intermittent shades among the genetic groups. Fertility rate was 86.39 and 86.10% in respective Type I and Type II genetic groups. The hatchability in terms of total egg set and fertile egg set were 76.41 and 88.41 % in Type I and 76.04 and 88.31 % in Type II genetic groups with no significant difference among the groups. The performance of these genetic groups surpassed many of native breeds and their overall reproductive performance was related to that of backyard varieties evolved by various research institutes. Thus, these birds can be used as a backyard variety by the farming community.