Performance of White Leghorn Chickens Breed Maintained at Haramaya University Poultry Farm and Implications for Sustainable Poultry Production
Downloads
Indigenous chickens in Ethiopia are characterized by slow growth and egg
production potential. As a result, poultry enterprises in the country entirely depend on exotic
breeds, which are productive. The White Leghorn breed is the major one among the exotic
breeds. Haramaya University Poultry farm is a source of the White Leghorn poultry breed in
eastern Ethiopia. However, poor management and maintenance of the breed for too long
without genetic improvement is a serious constraint to enhancing poultry production in the
region. The objective of this study was, therefore, to evaluate the performance of White
Leghorn breed maintained at Haramaya University poultry farm and establish their current
reproductive and productive potential. The productive and reproductive performance of the
breed was evaluated starting from hatching to 50 weeks of age. 576 eggs with an average size
of 50.01 + 5.57g were randomly arranged into three replicates each consisting of 192 eggs.
Then, a total of 363 hatched chicks were used and intensively raised on a deep litter system
to evaluate body weight, feed intake, feed efficiency, body weight gain, mortality during
brooder, grower and layer stages whereas egg weight and hen day egg production at layer
ages were also determined. All data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. The results
revealed that the mean hatchability, day old body weight, age at sexual maturity, weight at
sexual maturity, hen-day egg production, and egg weight for the study breed were 70.32 +
4.08%, 33.48 + 0.84g, 154 days, 880.04 g, 70.35+3.22% and 53.47+2.39g, respectively. The
average body weight and feed intake increased progressively during the brooder, grower and
layer age. The highest weight gain was achieved during the grower age but the highest feed
conversion ratio was observed during the layer stage. The mean mortality rates during the
brooder and grower stages were 4.23+1.72 and 1.17+0.96, respectively. In conclusion, the
White Leghorn breed at the university performed poorly with respect to most of the
variables studied. Therefore, it is necessary to do more research to get insights into possible
environmental and genetic factors that have contributed to the lower performance of the
breed so as to address the constraints and enhance poultry production in the region.
Copyright (c) 2020 Ewonetu Kebede Senbeta, Kasaye Assefa Balcha
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
- I am authorized by my co-authors to enter into these arrangements.
- I warrant, on behalf of myself and my co-authors, that:
- the article is original, has not been formally published in any other peer-reviewed journal, is not under consideration by any other journal and does not infringe any existing copyright or any other third party rights;
- I am/we are the sole author(s) of the article and have full authority to enter into this agreement and in granting rights to Springer are not in breach of any other obligation;
- the article contains nothing that is unlawful, libellous, or which would, if published, constitute a breach of contract or of confidence or of commitment given to secrecy;
- I/we have taken due care to ensure the integrity of the article. To my/our - and currently accepted scientific - knowledge all statements contained in it purporting to be facts are true and any formula or instruction contained in the article will not, if followed accurately, cause any injury, illness or damage to the user.
- I, and all co-authors, agree that the article, if editorially accepted for publication, shall be licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0. If the law requires that the article be published in the public domain, I/we will notify Springer at the time of submission, and in such cases the article shall be released under the Creative Commons 1.0 Public Domain Dedication waiver. For the avoidance of doubt it is stated that sections 1 and 2 of this license agreement shall apply and prevail regardless of whether the article is published under Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 or the Creative Commons 1.0 Public Domain Dedication waiver.
- I, and all co-authors, agree that, if the article is editorially accepted for publication in Haramaya Journals, data included in the article shall be made available under the Creative Commons 1.0 Public Domain Dedication waiver, unless otherwise stated. For the avoidance of doubt it is stated that sections 1, 2, and 3 of this license agreement shall apply and prevail.