A Comparative Study on the Growth Performance of Korean Indigenous Chicken Pure Line by Sex and Twelve Strains

Abstract

This study aimed to identify the growth performance of Korean indigenous chicken pure-line by sex and twelve strains conserved in Poultry Research Institute, National Institute of Animal Science, Rural Development Administration. The effect of sex and strain on body weight was significantly different in every period, with males being heavier in all periods than females. In the case of biweekly weight gain, the tendency to increase rapidly from birth to six weeks old, and to decrease in the period from twelve to fourteen weeks old was common across all sex and strains. Depending on sex and strain, there were significant differences in age and the number of peaks. Regardless of sex and strain, the determination coefficient and adjusted determination coefficient showed high goodness of fit (99.1∼99.9%) to growth functions. However, for each model, the goodness-of-fit had variations by sex and strains. von Betalanffy function had the best fit to growth curves in all the female strains except strain D. On the other hand, Gompertz function had the best fit for all the male strains except strain C. Logistic function showed the lowest goodness-of-fit in all sex and strains. Mature weights were in the order of von bertalanffy, Gompertz, and Logistic models, while growth ratio and maturing rate followed the order of logistic, gompertz, and von bertalanffy functions. This information could be useful for Korean indigenous chicken management and designing crossbreeding tests and breeding programs. (