Characterisation of the phenotypes associated with body growth and egg production in local chickens from three agro-climatic zones of Kenya

摘要

WeaimedtocharacterizebodygrowthandeggproductionphenotypesassociatedwithlocalchickensinKenyafromdifferentecologicalzones.Datawascollectedfromatotalof296chickensspreadacrossthreeagro-climaticzones:LamuArchipelago(semi-aridcoastal),Mt.Elgoncatchment(humidhighlands)andLakeTurkanabasin(aridpastoral).Theanalysisofvarianceshowedsignificantinteractionsbetweenshanklength,bodylengthandliveweightformeatproductionandthenumberofyolkspereggwithastrongsignificanceof4.34e-13,2e-16,2e-16,and0.01respectively.However,wedidnotfindanysignificantrelationshipbetweenthenumbersofeggslaidperhenperclutch,thenumberofeggsseatedonperhenperclutchandthenumberofeggshatchedperhenperclutch,inthevariousagro-climaticzones.Despitebeingthelightestandsmallbodied,chickensfromLakeTurkanawhichhadanaveragemeanbodyweight(g)of1190.96±358.16producedmoreeggs(9.42eggs±6.87eggs)thantheheaviestandbigbodied(LamuArchipelago)whichhadanaveragebodyweight(g)of2198.74±656.32andproducedanaverageof8.29eggs±5.95eggsperclutch.MountElgoncatchmentchickenshadanaverageweight(g)of1974.75±572.92andproducedanaverageof8.75±7.77eggsperhen.LamuArchipelagohadeggswiththehighestnumberofdouble-yolkedeggswithafrequencyof89%.Generally,werevealedrelevantproductiontraitsformeatandeggproductionamongindigenouschickensfromdifferentecotypesindifferentregionsthathistoricallyweremigrationpointsofentryforhumansandlivestockintoKenya.WeproposefurthergeneticstudiesontheLamuandTurkanaChickenecotypessincethesetwoarefromregionsinKenyathathavepreviouslybeenunderstudied.