Authors : Habtamu Alebachew, Alemayehu Abebe and Dessie Abera
Abstract: This study was conducted in Assosa town, Benishangul Gumuz, Western Ethiopia to evaluate the performance of Lohmann Brown commercial layer chicken breed and to introduce a small-scale commercial poultry production packages for the urban and pri-urban areas of Assosa. Six farmers from the town were selected for the study. Training was given for all the participants in regarding to poultry house construction from locally available materials, feeding management and health care of these breed. Each participant received 100 a day-old chicks and an other a day-old of 300 chicks were also kept at Assosa Agricultural Research Center (AARC), poultry research station as a comparison. In this study, the average survivability of the breed from day old until the second sixteen weeks of age among the participants was 88.3% with a mortality rate of 11.7% while the average survivability of these chickens from day old until the second sixteen weeks of age at the research center was 96.6% with a mortality rate of 3.7%. The average weight at 20 weeks of age was 1100.6 g and 1309.6 g, respectively at farmer’s management and under on-station condition. In this study, it revealed that the average age of Lohmann Brown chicken breed at the onset of egg production was 145.8 days under on-farm management while 126 days at on-station condition. The hen-day egg production under farmer’s management and under on-station condition at 48 weeks of age was 80.5% and 93.7%, respectively. Poultry producers participated in this research generates on average 20,518.67 Ethiopian Birr net profits during the 72 weeks of egg production period by considering poultry production as aside business. Based on this study, it can be concluded that Lohmann Brown commercial layer poultry breed can be an ideal layer for urban and pri-urban areas of Assosa town and similar agro-ecological areas too.
Habtamu Alebachew, Alemayehu Abebe and Dessie Abera, 2021. Demonstration and Evaluation of Commercial Layer (Lohmann Brown) Breed in Benishangul Gumuz, Western Ethiopia. Journal of Animal and Veterinary Advances, 20: 148-153.