Preliminary investigations on the domestication and adaptive breeding of African Bush Fowl (Francolinus bicalcaratus)

摘要

ThenaturalhomerangeoftheAfricanBushFowl(Francolinusbicalcaratus)istherainforestandsavannahecologicalzonesofWestAfricatowhichthebirdhadhithertobeenwelladapted.Butrecently,increasedhuntingpressures,increasedurbanizationandconstructionofaccessroadstolinktheseurbanareashavecombinedtoputalotofpressureonthehomerangeofthisgamebirdwhoseeconomicimportancetothelocalpopulaceissecondonlytothatofGuineaFowl.Ifcareisnottaken,thebirdcouldbehuntedoutofexistenceandthelocalpopulationmayloseitsculinarydelicacyfromtheirmenuforever.Therefore,effortsgearedatitspreservationthroughpossibledomesticationandadaptivebreedingmustbesought.AnexperimentwasthusconductedontwoclutchesofseveneggseachcollectedinthewildfromtwoAfricanbushfowlhenstodeterminethecharacteristics,compositionandhatchabilityoftheeggs.Theeggqualityparametersinvestigatedincludeaverageeggweight,egglength,eggwidth,eggshapeindex,yolkcolourscoreandshellthicknesswhilethecompositionalstudieswereonthecrudeprotein,fat,moistureandashcontentsoftheeggs.Parameterslikepercentagehatchability,averagechicks#8217;weight,percentagechicks#8217;weightandeggtochicks#8217;weightratiowerealsodetermined.Theresultsshowedanaverageeggshapeindexof77.00±0.70%andameaneggweightof26.00±0.70g.Theaverageegglengthandwidthwere4.38±0.04cmand3.37±0.02cmrespectively.Theyolkcolourscorewas6.40±0.24whiletheaverageshellthicknesswas0.65±0.01mm.Thecrudeprotein,fat,moisture,andashcontentsoftheeggswere,15.35±0.07%,11.93±0.77%,70.90±0.44%and1.69±0.06%respectively.Percentagehatchabilityinthisexperimentwas100,averagechick#8217;sweightwas11.81gwhiletheeggtochicks#8217;weightratiowas2.25:1andpercentagelossineggweightduringincubationwas54.51±1.53.ItcouldbeconcludedthatAfricanbushfowlholdsalotofnutritionalpromisesthatshouldbeexploredforthemaximumbenefitstocircumventtheseeminglyintractableproblemofanimalproteinmalnutrition,especiallyinsub-SaharanAfrica.Also,the100%hatchabilityrecordedunderartificialincubationwiththefeweggsinvestigatedsofarplacedAfricanBushFowlatavantagepointofimprovingitsreproductivesuccessundercaptivebreedingandeventualdomestication.