Authors : O.M. Obike, E.N. Nwachukwu, R.J. Nosike and V.E. Essien
Abstract: Data on 270 eggs from Black (90), White (90) and Spotted (90) plumaged strains of laying locally-adapted Turkey hens were used to evaluate their fertility and hatchability traits as well as estimate phenotypic correlations (rp) among the traits. The fertility and hatchability traits studied were Average Egg Weight (AEWT), Fertility (FER), Hatchability on Fertile Eggs (HFE), Hatchability on Eggs Set (HSE), Dead In Germ (DIG), Dead In Shell (DIS), Normal Poults (NP), Abnormal Poults (AP) and Poult Weight at Hatch (PWT). Apart from AP and PWT, strain had no significant (p>0.05) effect on the other hatching traits considered. AP was significantly (p<0.05) higher in the White strain (21.21±6.21) and least in the Black plumage strain (10.32±2.86). Black strain had significantly (p<0.05) highest PWT (64.56±4.11) compared to the White (53.40±1.76) and Spotted (52.11±1.30) which were statistically similar. The rp estimates among the hatching traits for the 3 plumage strains followed a similar trend and estimates were moderately or highly significant (p<0.05; p<0.01) for most of the traits. A positive significant association was obtained among AWET, HFE, HSE, NP and PWT. The rp values ranged between 0.27-0.61 (Black), 0.38-0.90 (White) and 0.34-0.91 (Spotted). FER, HFE, HSE, NP and PWT were also significant and positively correlated. AP, DIG and DIS had significant positive estimates in all the 3 strains: rp = 0.58 and 0.29 (Black), 0.37 and 0.33 (White) and 0.35 and 0.68 (Spotted), respectively. DIG, DIS and AP were significantly and negatively correlated with AWET, PWT, fertility and hatchability. The rp estimate between NP and AP was highly significant (p<0.01) and perfect (rp = -1.00). The result of this study suggests that fertility and hatchability traits are influenced more by non-genetic factors such as management and environment. The rp estimates also confirmed that fertility and hatchability are interdependent traits that could be improved phenotypically by selecting either of the traits.
O.M. Obike, E.N. Nwachukwu, R.J. Nosike and V.E. Essien, 2013. Evaluation of Fertility and Hatchability Traits of Locally-Adapted Turkey Strains in a Tropical Rain-Forest Zone of Nigeria. Research Journal of Poultry Sciences, 6: 68-72.