Growth performance and morphology of in 28-84 day-old Vietnamese local Noi chicken

Noi chicken is one of the most popular native breeds in the South of Vietnam because their good meat quality and disease resistance. Therefore, although price of their products (eggs and meat) is always high, they are always preferred. However, there have not been many studies on the morphology of this breed yet. In the current study, a total of 355 Noi chickens (164 males and 191 females) at 28 days old were selected and randomly allotted to individual cages until they reached the market weight at 84 days old. During the experiment, Noi broilers were fed ad libitum a diet with 17% crude protein and 3.000 kcal/kg ME produced by GreenFeed Vietnam Joint Stock Company. Average daily gain, feed conversion ratio and some morphological dimensions were recorded at two different stages of age (28-56 and 56-84 days old). Results were demonstrated that (i) significant differences in feed intake (P=0.006), body weight (P=0.019), beak length (P=0.014), thigh length (P=0.004), shank length (P=0.003), breast diameter (P=0.000), and thigh diameter (P=0.001) were found between males and females as well as between different stages; and (ii) body weight and some dimensions will increase rapidly at the first stage. An understanding on these economic traits helps researchers and producers have a more detailed glance on developing of each part of Noi chicken at different stages of age which they are the basic scientific foundation for further studies on this breed.