Association between body weight and some egg production traits in the guinea fowl (Numida meleagris galeata. Pallas)

摘要

DatafromonehundredpealguineafowlsobtainedfromhatchesofeggscollectedfromtheUniversityofIlorin,TeachingandResearchFarmwereanalysedusingthegenerallinearmodelforacompletelyrandomiseddesigntodeterminethephenotypiccorrelationsamongbodyweight,eggweight,eggindexandeggqualityfactorsaswellasregressionequationsthatcanbeusedtoestablishmodelsforpredictingbodyweight.Thematurebodyweightforwhichthehighesteggproductionparameterwasrecordedrangedfrom1274#177;13gtonbsp;1288#177;16g.nbsp;Theassociationbetweenbodyweightandeggnumberwaspositive,indicatingthatthepointofnbsp;laydoesnotterminateactualweightincreasesintheguineafowl.nbsp;Simplelinearregressionofdifferentparametersonageshowedapoorfitascharacterizedbylowcoefficientsofdetermination(R2)explainedbythemodel.Phenotypicimprovementeffortsinthepearlguineafowlshouldbeconcentratedonestablishingauniformflockbodyweightofatleast1250gatsexualmaturity.Bysodoingoptimumeggproductionmaybeobtainedtosatisfyconsumersdemand,maximizeprofitforsaleandimprovefertilityandhatchability.