Genotype X environment interaction in two breeds of chickens kept under two management systems in Southern Ethiopia
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Abstract
Rhode Island Red (RIR) and Fayoumi chickens were evaluated on-station in a college farm and on-farm in village farms, whereas local chickens were only tested under on-farm condition. Traits recorded are egg production and egg quality, body weight and feed efficiency at 4, 8 and 12 months of age. Significant age effect was found for most traits except for shell thickness, albumen height and egg length. Also, significant breed by management system interactions were found for all traits measured in both systems. Fayoumi chickens were higher in egg production in both management systems. Moreover, they were higher than RIR in feed efficiency. RIR were higher in most egg quality traits and had higher weight gain. Local chickens performed below the two exotic breeds in most of the traits, but had higher weight gain than Fayoumi. Chickens kept on-farm had poorer performance than those kept on-station in all traits except for yolk colour.
Keywords
On-station On-farm Fayoumi RIR Sidancho ecotype Genotype*environment interactionAbbreviations
- AAFE
Age At First Egg
- AEST
Average Egg Shell Thickness
- AEW
Average Egg Weight
- AFC
Average Feed Consumption
- AH
Albumen Height
- BW
Body Weight
- BWG
Body Weight Gain
- EL
Egg Length
- EM
Egg Mass
- EN
Egg Number
- ESI
Egg Shape Index
- EW
Egg Width
- FEEM
Feed Efficiency for Egg Mass
- HHEP
Hen Housed Egg Production
- HU
Haugh Unit
- YC
Yolk Colour
- YH
Yolk Height
Notes
Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to Norwegian Development Organization (NORAD) and Operational Research supported by Irish government for their financial support to undertake this study. We would also like to thank the Norwegian University of Life Sciences and the Hawassa University (Ethiopia) for providing necessary facilities to undertake the study.
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