TITLE:
EFFECTS OF FEEDING TIMES ON TOTAL EGG PRODUCTION, FERTILITY AND HATCHABILITY OF BROILER CHICKEN BREEDERS IN IGBO-ORA SOUTH-WEST NIGERIA
NAME: KAREEM Simbiat Oluwabusayo [View Profile]
MATRIC NO: PG13/0784
CENTRE: World Bank Centre of Excellence in Agricultural Development and Sustainable Environment
PROGRAMME: Livestock Science and Sustainable Environment
DEGREE AWARDED: M. AgSE Livestock Science and Sustainable Environment.
YEAR OF ADMISSION: 2014/2015 Session
DATE OF DEFENCE:
ABSTRACT
Nutrition has the potential to influence the performance of adult broiler chicken breeder flocks and it is thus of great importance. Choice of feeding time for adult breeders could influence the production of settable eggs, egg shell quality, fertility and hatchability. This study investigated the effects of feeding times on total egg production, fertility and hatchability of broiler chicken breeders in south-west Nigeria. The experiment was conducted for eight weeks using 240 Marshal Broiler chicken breeder of 40 to 48 weeks of age. The birds were randomly assigned to three treatment groups of feeding time (3:00, 5:00 and 7:00 am). Each group was replicated four times with twenty birds per replicate in a Completely Randomized Design. The birds were fed broiler breeder diets containing 17.5% CP and 2860 kcalME/kg. Prior to data collection, two weeks acclimatization period was allowed for the birds. The first four weeks (1 – 4 weeks) of the experiment was scheduled for the feeding time and eggs were collected from the birds and taken to the hatchery on regular basis (not more than 5 days storage period). The second four weeks (5 – 8 weeks) was used for monitoring of the eggs in the hatchery and the stages of embryonic development. Significant (p<0.05) differences were obtained in the hen-day egg production among the treatments with comparable values of 69.19% and 69.83% were observed in broiler chicken breeders on 3:00 and 5:00 am feeding times, respectively and these were significantly higher (p<0.05)than 60.55% recorded in birds on 7:00 am feeding time. The same trend were also observed for the average number of chicks hatched with 3:00 and 5:00am (28.67 and 27.69) recording a significantly higher (p<0.05) than 7am (25.34) and percentage hatchability was observed to be significantly higher (p<0.05). Percentage dead in shell was significantly (p<0.05) higher in birds fed at 7:00am. However, survivability was best (p<0.05) at 3:00am (85.16%) feeding time followed by birds fed at 7:00am (74.69%) while the poorest (p<0.05) survivability was observed for broiler chicken breeders on 5:00am feeding time. Feeding did not impact negatively (p>0.05) on the embryonic development. The study concluded that feeding broiler chicken breeders at 3:00am or 5:00am in the prevailing climatic condition in the study area enhanced better hen-day egg production, hatchability and reduced percentage dead in shell.
Word count: 378
DATE OF DEFENCE: 21ST July, 2017
YEAR OF ADMISSION: 2014