Evaluation of Tanzanian local chicken reared under intensive and semi-intensive systems: I. Growth performance and carcass characteristics

摘要

Theobjectiveofthisstudywastodeterminetheeffectofrearingsystems,sexandageatslaughterongrowthperformanceandcarcasstraitsoflocalchicken.Atotalof96localweanedchicks(twomonthsold)wereboughtfromfarmersinMorogoroperi-urbanandrearedundertwodifferentrearingsystemviz.intensiveandsemi-intensivesystems.nbsp;Thebirdswereinitiallyweighedandrandomlyassignedtoeachrearingsystemwithequalnumberofmalesandfemales(48birdspersystem).Twopenswithdeeplitterwereusedtohousethebirds.Spacingforbirdsinbothsystemswas4birds/m2.nbsp;However,birdsundersemi-intensivesystemhadfreeaccesstograssypaddock(1bird/10m2).Allbirdswereofferedthesamedietwithsemi-intensivegroupreceivinghalfofwhatwasofferedtotheintensivegroup.Randomsampleof24malesand24femalesineachrearingsystemwereslaughteredatfiveandsevenmonth.nbsp;Bodyweightsatslaughterandbodyweightgainofbirdsfromsemi-intensivesystemweresignificantlylowerthanofthosekeptinintensivesystem.Therewasnodifferenceindressingpercentagebetweenthetworearingsystems,thevaluesbeing65.2%and65.7%forintensiveandsemi-intensiverespectively.Dressingpercentwashigher(67.7%)atsevenmonththanatfivemonthofage(63.2%).Therearingsystemssignificantlyaffectedthebreastpercentage,beinghigherinsemi-intensive(25.1%)comparedtointensivesystem(23.3%).nbsp;Thighpercentwasnotinfluencedbyrearingsystemorslaughterage,whiledrumstickpercentwassignificantlyloweratsevenmontholdbirdcomparedtofivemontholdbirds.nbsp;Fromthestudy,itisconcludedthatlocalchickenwithmodestsupplementationandassumingavailabilityofscavengingfeedresources,semi-confinementsystemofchickenrearingcouldbemoreappropriateforthesmallholderpoultrykeepers.nbsp;