The study was carried out at the Poultry Unit of the Federal University of Technology,
Akure, Nigeria to estimate the body weight (BWT) of four-chicken genotypes from their linear
body measurements (LBMs) using simple linear and quadratic functions. A total of 180 chicks
purchased from a reputable Hatchery in Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria and were divided into four
treatments according to their genotype in a completely randomized designed experiment that
lasted for 8 weeks. The birds were distributed at 50 birds per genotypes except for Frizzled Feather
(FF) chickens that were 30 in number and they were fed the experimental diet ad-libitum for the
period of the study. The BWTs and LBMs were taking fortnightly per bird during the period of the
study. Results showed that quadratic functions favoured the chicken genotypes at various ages for
the different LDMs valued at 477.86(STL), 308.40(NTS),1350.59(NTS) and 2005.38(CHG) for
Marshall, Normal feather, Naked neck and FF chickens respectively at weeks 8 except for Marshall
at week 6. The coefficient of determination (R2) showed that the BWTs and LBMs were well
described as most of the values obtained were significantly different (P<0.05). This suggests that
LBMs could be used to predict body weights at specific ages in chickens. Comparison on the basis
of R2 values showed that LBMs were better fitted by quadratic function than linear function among
the genotypes. Comparing the two functions, it could be concluded that quadratic had an advantage
over the linear.
Key words: Linear body measurements, body weight, indigenous, chicken and genotypes
PAPER TITLE :ESTIMATION OF BODY WEIGHT FROM LINEAR BODY MEASUREMENTS IN FOUR-CHICKEN GENOTYPES USING LINEAR AND QUADRATIC FUNCTIONS
JOURNAL Of SUSTAINABLE TECHNOLOGY | VOLUME 9 NUMBER 1 2018
Paper Details
- Author(s) : ATANSUYI, A.J; OLASEINDE, I.O. and CHINEKE, C.A.
- Abstract:
