The egg-laying or layer strain is of high nutrient and of good economic importance to the society at large due mainly to its egg production traits and also for its meat. The exotic layer strains have been able to adapt to the climatic and environmental conditions of the southern part of Nigeria. Non-the-less, challenges are still being faced in its rearing and production especially during extreme climatic conditions. Previous research found that changes in the seasonal environment had significant effects on egg fertility, hatchability of total set eggs and hatchability of fertile eggs. This study aimed at determining the effects of genotype and season on two exotic layer chicken strains. A total of one thousand five hundred (1500) layers per strainwere used for the evaluation of their reproductive performances. Each strain included one hundred and twenty cocks (120) for random mating. It was observed that there were significant differences (P<0.05) in the values obtained for the different seasons.The late wet season had a higher significant difference (P<0.05) in values of the percent fertile (78.12±0.51), percent hatched (72.36±0.74) and percent hatchability (92.92±0.36) than other seasons, the percent hatchability (90.60±0.48), total hatched (67.68±0.98), percent fertility (74.80±0.72), were highly significant (P<0.05) in Brown dominant than the Hyline brown strain of laying Chicken with percent hatchability (88.38±0.49), total hatched (63.01 ±0.92) and percent fertility (7I.02±0.7I). In conclusion, it was discovered that the Brown dominant layer chicken strain had a better performance in the fertility and hatchability than the Hyline brown chicken layer and the late wet season was observed to be more favourable to percentages hatched, fertility and hatchability. The Brown dominant strain is preferable for brown layer production and also, the late wet season should therefore be targeted for optimal production of layers in southwest Nigeria.
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