Egg quality characteristics and phenotypic correlations among egg quality traits in the naked neck, normal and dwarf strains of Tswana chickens raised under intensive management system

Authors: Kgwatalala P.M.; Molapisi M.; Thutwa K.; Sekgopi B.; Selemoge T.P.; Nsoso S.J.
DIN
IJOEAR-APR-2016-39
Abstract

Strains found among Tswana chicken population include the naked neck, dwarf, frizzled, rumpless and normal-feathered (normal). Internal and external egg quality characteristics and phenotypic correlations among egg quality traits in different strains of Tswana chickens under intensive management have never been evaluated. The study was conducted to determine the internal and external egg quality characteristics of the naked neck, normal and dwarf strains of Tswana chicken. A total of 200, 185 and 175 eggs were collected from the naked neck, normal and dwarf strains, respectively, for external and internal egg quality analysis.  No significant differences in albumin height, albumen pH and yolk pH were found between the strains. The naked neck strain however produced eggs with the highest egg weight, albumen weight, albumen content, egg volume and egg surface area and the lowest yolk content. The dwarf strain had the lowest egg weight, albumin weight, egg volume, and egg surface area and the highest egg shell thickness.All the three strains of Tswana chicken produced eggs of acceptable quality. The naked neck strain however had the best egg quality characteristics, followed by the normal strain and lastly the dwarf strain. Of the three strains, the naked neck strain had the strongest correlation coefficients among external and internal egg quality characteristics and between external and internal egg quality characteristics. Egg weight was positively and highly correlated with other egg quality traits such as egg length, egg width, egg volume, egg surface area, albumen weight and yolk weight in the three strains of Tswana chicken. Selection for higher egg weight is likely to lead to the greatest improvements in other egg quality characteristics (both internal and external) in the naked neck than in the normal and dwarf strains.

Keywords
Internal Egg Traits External Egg Traits Tswana Chickens Intensive System Botswana
Download Options
Download Full PDF
Share Article
Facebook Twitter LinkedIn
Introduction

Indigenous Tswana chickens are mainly raised under low input and low output free range production system providing food security, protein nutrition, and women empowerment to most rural families in Botswana. Indigenous chickens are well known for their adaptation superiority in terms of resistance to endemic diseases and other harsh environmental conditions (Nwakpu et. al., 1999) hence their popularity with small scale subsistence farmers. The increasing demand for poultry products from indigenous Tswana chickens is offering an opportunity for medium scale to large scale production of Tswana chickens. The profitability and long term sustainability of these medium and large scale Tswana chicken enterprises will however depend on the production of good quality eggs by indigenous Tswana chickens. According to Stadelman (1977) egg quality is the characteristics of an egg that affect its acceptability to consumers and is most important price contributing factor in both table and hatching eggs. Some of the factors influencing egg quality include breed/strain/variety, temperature, relative humidity, rearing practice and season (Rajkumar et. al., 2009).

The indigenous Tswana chicken population exhibit great phenotypic variation due to lack of selection in both qualitative and quantitative traits, and strains found within the Tswana chicken population include normal-feathered (normal), naked neck, frizzled, dwarf  and the rumpless.  These strains represent an important genetic resource that need to be characterized in various traits of economic importance and conserved for future breed developments. Some strains of Tswana chickens such as the dwarf, frizzled, rumpless and naked neck occur at a relatively low frequency in the Tswana chicken population and are at risk of extinction even before they have been characterized in various traits of economic importance. Compared to exotic chicken breeds, there is less information on egg quality traits and phenotypic correlations among various egg quality traits indifferent strains of indigenous Tswana Chickens. The objectives of this study were therefore to evaluate the internal and external egg quality traits and to determine phenotypic correlations among the various egg quality traits in the naked neck, normal and dwarf strains of indigenous Tswana chicken.

Conclusion

Naked neck, normal and dwarf strains of Tswana chicken produce eggs of acceptable external and internal qualities. Eggs of the naked neck and normal strains are heavier than those of the dwarf strain. Of the three strains, the naked neck produce the healthiest eggs for human consumption with the highest albumen (protein) weight and content and the lowest yolk (fat) weight and content. Selection for higher egg weight in the three strains of Tswana chicken is likely to lead to improvements in other egg quality traits such as egg length, egg width, egg volume, egg surface area, albumen weight and yolk weight and the greatest improvement in correlated egg quality traits will occur in the naked neck than in the other two strains. 

References
  1. Abanikannda O.T.F., Olutogun O.,Leigh  A.O. and Ajayi L.A. 2007. Statistical modelling of egg weight and egg dimensions in commercial layers. Int. J. Poult. Sci. 6:59-63.
  2. Alewi M., Melesse A., and Teklegiorgis Y. 2012.Crossbreeding effect on egg quality traits of local chickens and their F1 crosses with Rhode Island Red and Fayoumi chicken breeds under farmers’ management conditions. J. Anim. Sci. Adv. 8:697-705.
  3. Bernacki Z. and Heller K. 2003.Ocenajakoscijajperlicszarych w roznychokresachniesnosci. Pr. Kom. NaukRoln Biol. BTN 51:27-32.
  4. Dakpogan H.V., Salifou S.,Gbangboche A.B. andChrysostome C.A.A. 2012.Laying performance of five local hen phenotypes in improved rearing conditions. J. Anim. Plant Sci. 15:2130-2134.
  5. Fayeye T.R., Adeshiyan A.B. and Olugbami A.A. 2005.Egg traits, hatchability and early growth performance of the Fulani-ecotype chicken.Livest. Res. Rural Dev., 17: http://www.Cipav.org.co/Irrd/Irrd/17/8/faye17 094.htm.
  6. Garcês A. and Casey N.H.2003.Oviposition and egg quality of dwarf and naked neck layers. South African J. Anim. Sci.33:105-110.
  7. Garcês A., Casey N.H. and Horst P. 2001. Productive performance of naked neck, frizzled and dwarf laying hens under various natural climates and two nutritional treatments. South African J. Anim. Sci. 31:105-110.
  8. Haugh R.R. 1937. The Haugh unit for measuring egg quality. U.S. Egg poultry magazine. 43:552-555.
  9. Harms R.H. and Hussein S.M. 1993. Variation in egg yolk: albumen ratio in hen eggs from commercial flocks. J. Appl. Poult. Res. 2(2).
  10. Ihekoronye A.T. and Ngoddy P.O. 1985.Integrated Food Science and Technology for the Tropics, McMillan, London.
  11. Iqbal A., Akram M.,Sahota A.W., Javed K., Hussain J., Sarfraz Z. and Mehmood S. 2012. Laying characteristics and egg geometry of four varieties of indigenous Aseel chicken in Pakistan. J. Anim. Plant Sci. 4:848-852.
  12. Kgwatalala PM., Nogayagae M. and Nsoso, S.J. 2012. Growth performance of different strains of indigenous Tswana chickens under intensive management system. African J. Agric. Res. 7:2438-2445.
  13. Kul S. andSeker I. 2004. Phenotypic correlation between some external and internal egg egg quality traits in the Japanese quail (Coturnixcoturnix japonica). Int. J. Poult. Sci.3:400-405.
  14. Misshohou A., Dieye P.N. and Talaki E. 2002.Rural poultry production and productivity in Southern Senegal.Livest.Res. Rural Dev. 14(2).
  15. Mohammed M.D., Abdalsalam Y.I, Kheir A.M., Jin-yu W. andHussein M.H. 2005. Comparison of the egg characteristics of different Sudanese Indigenous Chickens.Int. J. Poult. Sci. 4:455-457.
  16. Nwakpu P.E., Odo B.I., Omeje SI., Akpa M. and EdogaC.C..199. Hatching performance of three strains of layer-type chickens and their lines. Proceedings of the 26th Annual Conference, NSAP, 21-25th March, 1999, Ilorin.
  17. Nonga H.E, Kanjuna F.F, Ngomi H.A and Karimuribo E.D. 2010. Physical Egg Quality Characteristics of Free-range Local ChickensinMogorogoro Municipality, Department of Veterinary Medicine and Public Health, Sokane University of Agriculture, Tanzania
  18. Nowaczewski S., Witkiewicz K., Fratczak M., Kontecka H., Rutkowski A., Krystianiak S. and Rosinski A. 2008. Egg quality from domestic and French guinea fowl. NaukaPrzyr. Technol., 2:1-9.
  19. Obike O.M. andAzu K.E. 2012. Phenotypic correlations among body weight, external and internal egg quality traits of pearl and black strains of guinea fowl in a humid tropical environment. J. Anim. Sci. Adv. 2:857-864.
  20. Ozcelik M. 2002. The phenotypic correlation among some external and internal quality characteristics in Japanese quail eggs. Vet. J. Ankara Univ. 49:67-72   
  21. Peters S.O., Ikeobi C.O., Ozoje M.O., Famakinwa O.A., OshodiY.S.andAdebambo O.A. 2007. Egg quality of the Nigerian local chcicken as influenced by some major genes. Nig. J. Anim. Pro. 34:25-31. 
  22. Rajkumar U., Sharma R.P., Rajaravindra K.S., Niranjan M., Reddy B.L.N., Bhattacharya T.K. and Chatterjee R.N. 2009. Effect of genotype and age on egg quality traits in naked neck chickenunder tropical climatefromindia. Int.J. Poult. Sci. 8:1151-1155.
  23. SAS institute (2009). User’s Guide Version, 9.2.1, 2002-2009, SAS institute Inc., Cary, NC, USA.
  24. Smith A.J. 1990. The Tropical Agriculturist: poultry. The Macmillian press Ltd, London.218p.
  25. Stadelman W.J. 1977. Quality identification of shell eggs. In: Egg Science and technology. 2nd ed.AVI Publishing Co. Inc. Westport, Connecticut.
  26. Udoh U.H., OkonB. and Udoh A.P. 2012. Egg quality characteristics, phenotypic correlations and prediction of egg weight in three (naked neck, frizzled feather and normal feathered) Nigerian local chickens. Int. J. Poult. Sci. 11:696-699.
  27. Yakubu A., OgahD.M.andBarde R.E. 2008. Productivity and egg quality characteristics of free range naked neck and normal feathered Nigerian indigenous chicken. Int. J. Poult. Sci. 7:579-585.
  28. Yeasmin T. and Howlider M.A.R. 1998. Comparative physical features, egg production and egg quality characteristics of normal and dwarf indigenous (Deshi) hens of Bangladesh. J. Appl. Anim. Res. 13:1-2. 
  29. Yousif I.A. and Eltayeb N.M. 2011. Performance of Sudanese native dwarf and bare neck chicken raised under improved traditional production system. Agric. Biol. J. N. Am. 2:860-866. 
  30. Zeidler G. 2002. Shell egg quality and preservation. In: Commercial chicken meat and egg production, 5th edition, Kluwer academic publishers, Massachusetts, USA. 
Article Preview
Quick Actions
Download PDF View References
Article Info
Pages
96-105