Embryonic Development and Early Juvenile Growth of Nigerian Local Chickens in Crosses with Exotic Broiler Breeder under Humid Tropical Conditions

O.E. Oke, M. Wheto, V.A. Uyanga, F.A. Aluko, J.A. Abiona, M.A. Adeleke and C.O. Ogbebor

Background and Objective: Heat stress represents a major challenge for the optimal production of exotic broiler chickens in tropical environments. This study, therefore, aimed to evaluate the hatching egg characteristics, embryonic development, hatching parameters and juvenile growth of Nigeria Indigenous Chicken in crosses with exotic broiler chickens. Materials and Methods: A total of 1,000 day-old chicks were bred from Nigerian Indigenous Chickens (NIC) and exotic broiler breeder (Anak Titan) to obtain chicks whose genotypes were: 100% NIC+0% exotic broiler chicken (NIC), 75% NIC+25% exotic broiler chicken (TE), 50% NIC+50% exotic broiler chicken (FE) and 25% NIC+75% exotic broiler chicken (SE). At 36 weeks of age, fertile eggs were obtained from each cross with the use of artificial insemination. Hatched chicks were reared to determine the juvenile growth parameters. Results: The results showed no significant differences between the egg quality characteristics for the different genotypes (p>0.05). At Embryonic Day (ED) 7 of incubation, egg weight loss of TE, NIC and FE was similar but higher than those of the eggs of SE. The egg weight loss of NIC was similar to that of TE but higher than those of FE and SE at ED15. The percentage fertility of FE eggs was significantly higher than those of other treatment groups, while TE eggs were also higher than those of NIC and SE whose values were comparable. Conclusion: It was concluded that there could be a positive improvement in embryonic development and post-hatch growth of the local chicken by crossbreeding using the same genotype ratio (50:50).

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