PRINCIPAL COMPONENT ANALYSIS AND REPEATABILITY ESTIMATE OF EGG PRODUCTION TRAITS IN NIGERIAN INDIGENOUS CHICKENS DIVERGENTLY SELECTED FOR ANTIBODY RESPONSE TO SHEEP RED BLOOD CELLS (SRBC)

摘要

A study of the principal component analysis and repeatability on egg production traits was carried out in Nigerian indigenous chickens.The internal and external qualities of eggs of of three different genotypes (normal feather, naked neck and frizzlefeather) of Nigerian indigenous chickens were determined using a sample of 500 eggs. From the results, there were no significant (p>0.05) differences in the any of the internal and external characteristics of the eggs of the birds with the genotypes. Associations recorded for the egg traits of the normal feather birds ranged from -0.25 to 0.68. Strong association for the egg traits recorded for the naked neck birds was between egg weight and egg thickness (r = 0.66, p0.05) but generally low with egg weight recording 0.064 ± 0.037, egg length recording 0.024 ± 0.018 and egg thickness recording 0.010 ± 0.013. In conclusion the internal and external egg characteristics of the genotypes were similar, but association of traits differed between the genotypes.