EFFECT OF SELECTION FOR SKELETAL TRAITS ON BODY WEIGHT IN ALEXANDRIA LOCAL CHICKENS

Abstract

: The present study aimed to improve the body weight in the Alexandria chickens by selection for the skeletal traits of the high breast width, breast length and leg length at eight weeks of age. 2500 birds at a day of hatch were obtained from 5 consecutive hatching weekly hatches were taken for one generation. The results of this study showed that the overall means for body weight at four weeks (BW 4 ), body weight at eight weeks (BW 8 ) and body weight at twelve weeks (BW 12 ) were (204.699 and 190.02 g), (718.559 and 610.20 g) and (1289.99 and 1049.002 g) for males and females, respectively. These results showed that the differences among line were highly significant (P ≤ 0.01) in selected line than control line in BW 8 and BW 12 . Also, the overall means of shank length in eight weeks of age (SL 8 ), breast length in eight weeks of age (BRL 8 ) and breast width in eight weeks of age (BRW 8 ) were (6.81 and 6.38 cm), (11.85 and 11.23 cm) and (11.24 and 10.78 cm) for males and females, respectively. The selection for the skeletal traits in Alexandria chickens in eight weeks of age showed that