The Effect of Genotype on Performance and Egg Quality Traits of the Naked-Neck, Normal-Feathered, and Exotic Tetra H Chickens
The Effect of Genotype on Performance and Egg Quality Traits of the Naked-Neck, Normal-Feathered, and Exotic Tetra H Chickens
Abiyu Tadele 1,2*, Gebreyohannes Berhane2, Wondmeneh Esatu3
ABSTRACT
Studies on the performance and egg quality traits of chicken are essential for consumers and chicken husbandry, helping them to anticipate yield, market, and exploitation of the genotypes in future breeding plans. The main ecotypes in Southwest Ethiopia are the indigenous naked-neck and normal-feathered chicken genotypes, and the exotic Tetra H, a dual-purpose genotype that was imported from Hungary. Data were collected from 168 hens of the three genotypes kept under intensive management for 20 weeks. The Tetra H genotype had significantly greater (p < 0.05) body weight, feed consumption, hen-housed egg production, egg mass, and a lower (better) feed conversion ratio than the other genotypes. Similarly, the naked-neck chicken genotype outperformed the normal-feathered chicken in terms of age at first egg, body weight, egg number per bird, hen-housed egg output, and egg mass. Furthermore, Tetra H had a 29.8% higher body weight at the first egg and a 20.72% higher body weight at the first egg than the normal-feathered and naked-neck genotypes, respectively. For the assessment of egg quality traits, 240 fresh eggs from the three genotypes were sampled. The findings revealed that, except for yolk breadth and color, the Tetra H genotype had considerably better (p < 0.05) egg quality characteristics than the other genotypes. Internal and external egg quality characteristics were found to have positive and significant associations among the genetic group of chickens, demonstrating that choosing birds with bigger eggs increases the proportion of edible eggs. As a result, our findings will help to develop more effective breeding programs for these three chicken genotypes by providing valuable insights into the genetic basis of chicken performance and egg quality.
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