Comparative study of threeway crossbred chickens with reciprocal F1 crossbred chickens

What is it about?

A total of 2000 unsexed day-old chicks of each three-way (White Leghorn maleXF1 female) [Fayoumi maleX Rhode Island Red (RIR) female] crossbred and reciprocal F1 crossbred (RIRXFayoumi) chickens were used in this study. The average day-old weight was highest in Rural Leghorn (RLH), intermediate in Fayoumi malexRIR female (FIRI) and lowest in RIR malexFayoumi female (RIFI) chickens. The RLH and FIRI chickens consumed more feed and gained maximum weight gain than that of RIFI crossbred chickens at all ages of the growing phase. The poor feed conversion was observed in RIFI and better feed conversion was recorded in FIRI and RLH crossbred chickens. The RLH three-crossbred chickens had the lowest mortality than two crossbred chickens. The highest dressing percentage was observed in FIRI followed by RIFI (62.40%) and RLH (62.10%) chickens. The total erythrocyte number, Hb and PCV increased with the advancement of age. However, ESR, MCV and MCH values decreased gradually with the advancement of age.

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Why is it important?

Two-way crossbred females of FIRI were retained from crossing of Fayoumi males with RIR females and mated with the third breed for further improvement in production performance. Consequently, a three-way crossbred chicken, a Rural Leghorn (RLH) breed was developed by crossing between White Leghorn male with females of FIRI chickens. So, RLH chickens contain White Leghorn (50%), RIR (25%) and Fayoumi (25%). The hybrid vigour is significantly lower in rotation than in three-way cross-breeding. However, there is still a paucity of information about the role of maternal effects or the value of specific crosses. The lack of reference levels of blood chemical indices, specific to crossbred chickens necessitates research to establish these reference levels at different ages.

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