Effect of Forced Moulting on the Performance of Exotic Hy-line Brown Layer Birds under Tropical Climatic Conditions

摘要

Even though layer hens that survived moulting were reported to have laid bigger, better quality and more eggs, and also, to have gained weight considerably (Roland and Brake, 1982), there is still little scientific evidence of this in the Sub- Saharan Africa. The objective of the present study therefore was to evaluate the performance of Hy-line brown birds after moulting in tropical environment. The study was specifically designed to determine the effects of year of production and moulting on hen day production, mortality rate and average weekly weight gain in Hy-line brown birds. Data was obtained from a commercial farm on the Accra plains to evaluate the performance of 92,908 moulted and 45,768 unmoulted Hy-line brown layers during a 3-year period (1999, 2001 and 2003). The parameters measured were weekly hen day production, mortality rate and average weekly gain. The data obtained was subjected to analysis of variance and means separated using Turkey’s test to determine the effects of moulting and year of production on the aforementioned performance parameters. The results of the study revealed a significantly higher (P<0.05) hen day production in the year 2001(62.2%) than the year 2003 (53.8%). Hen day production was also higher (P<0.05) in moulted (66.2%) than unmoulted (50.3%) birds.