Abstract

This study aims to contribute towards the genetic improvement of Nigerian local chicken ecotype through selection. Genetic parameters for body weight at first egg (BWFE), egg number (EN) and egg weight (EW) till first 90 days of lay were estimated for both selected and control lines. Selection was based on an index using BWFE, EN and EW as the selection criterion traits. After three generations of index selection, BWFE, EN and EW all improved significantly (P<0.05) in the selected line. The heritability estimates for all traits in the three generations for both lines were moderate to high (BWFE, 0.33-0.56; EN, 0.19-0.28; EW, 0.25-0.44). Low to high positive genetic and phenotypic correlation was observed between BWFE and EW. The genetic and phenotypic correlation between BWFE and EN, and EW and EN were generally moderate to highly negative in both lines for all generations. However, in the second generation of the selected line a positive genetic correlation (0.33) was observed between EW and EN.

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