Comparative study of growth and laying performance of indigenous layer guinea fowls (Numida meleagris) from Upper East, Upper West and Northern Regions of Ghana

An eleven-week experiment to compare the performance of 45 weeks old local layer guinea fowls from Upper East (UER), Upper West (UWR) and Northern (NR) regions of Ghana was conducted at the Animal Science Department farm of the University for Development Studies, Tamale. 243 birds, 86 from UER, 79 from UWR and 78 from NR were used. Birds from each region were divided into four groups and put into four cages each. The diet was made up of 25% layer concentrate, 55% maize and 20% wheat bran. Water was provided ad libitum. Parameters measured were feed intake (FI), body weight, and weight gain, feed conversion efficiency (FCE), mortality, rate of egg laying and fertility. There were no significant differences (P>0.05) in FI and FCE of birds from the three regions. UWR birds were more efficient in feed conversion than birds from UER and NR. Mortality was generally low. Birds from UWR laid more eggs (631) while UER birds recorded the lowest (352 eggs). Egg fertility was high (74%) with NR birds but low in UER (53.6%) and UWR birds (43%). UWR birds exhibited high potential for egg production and FCE than those from the UER and NR. NR birds performed fairly well in egg production and body weight gain. UER birds laid fewer eggs though they had large body size indicating they possess meat production tendencies.