Effect of strain and associations of some fertility and hatchability traits of indigenous guinea fowls raised in the rain-forest zone of South-East Nigeria

Abstract

Obike O. M, Nwachukwu E.N and Ukewulonu I. E

A total of 204 eggs consisting of 102 eggs each from Pearl x Pearl and Black x Black matings were collected and hatched in 3 batches to evaluate strain effect and phenotypic correlations (rp) among the following hatching traits – hatchability on eggs set (HES), hatchability on fertile eggs (HFE), fertility (FER), dead-in-germ (DG), dead-in-shell (DS), normal keets (NRK) and abnormal keets (ABK). Strain had no significant (P > 0.05) effect on the entire traits studied, except for DS. The Black strain had significantly (P < 0.05) lower DS values (8.89 ± 4.00, 21.39 ± 4.62 and 23.90 ± 3.03) compared to the Pearl (33.33 ± 16.66, 44.53 ± 13.40 and 83.33 ± 25.45) in the 3 batches, respectively. The rp among the traits for the 2 strains ranged from low to unity. However, the association between HES and HFE of the Black strain was not significant (P > 0.05). The significant (P < 0.05; P < 0.01) correlations among DG, HES, HFE and FER ranged between -0.201 to -0.728 (Pearl) and -0.369 to -0.700 (Black). The rp estimates among DS, HES, HFE, FER and DG ranged between -0.526 to -0.883 (Pearl) and -0.528 to -0.709 (Black). The correlation between fertility and hatchability traits were significant and positively related in both strains. The non-significant strain effect indicates that these fertility and hatchability traits are less dependent on genetic profile but are more influenced by non-genetic factors like management and environment. Estimates of rp observed among the traits suggest that they could be improved phenotypically through selection.