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There are three main breeds of goat in Nigeria: The West African Dwarf (WAD), the Red Sokoto and the Sahel. Goats are renowned for their hardiness and can survive in most environments. The goats sampling was carried out from farms and markets across different states in Nigeria, according to the geographical distribution of the breeds published by Blench (1999). This experiment was carried out to analyse morphological variability among Nigerian goats. A total of 318 goats spread across the three Nigerian breeds were used in the following populations (57 Sahel, 187 Red Sokoto and 137 West African Dwarf). Data were collected on body weight, linear body measurements and heat tolerance traits and were subjected to analysis of variance using the fixed effects of breed, sex and location. Results showed that breed, sex and location significantly (P

This experiment was conducted to assess the effect of chicken genotype on the growth performance, feed intake and feed efficiency of the progenies resulting from pure, straight and reciprocal cross of Giriraja (Gr) and Alpha chickens. Data obtained on body weight, body length, breast girth, keel length, feed intake and feed efficiency were analyzed using general linear models analysis of variance. Generally, all growth traits and feed consumption characteristics were significantly affected (P < 0.05) by chicken genotype. Growth traits and feed intake increased as birds advanced in age. Giriraja X Giriraja purebred chickens had the highest body weight, breast girth, feed intake and feed conversion efficiency through out the experimental period. However, the progenies resulting from the reciprocal crosses of Alpha X Gr had significant higher body weight and keel. Also, the feed conversion efficiency of the reciprocal crosses were better than the dihybrid cross progenies. The results therefore suggest that the superiority exhibited by the Giriraja could be utilized to improve the growth performance of the indigenous chicken thereby speed up desirable progress in the improvement of the indigenous broiler line. Key words: Chicken, Crossbred, Feed consumption, Genotype, Growth trait, Purebred

The retail cuts, gut characteristics and morphology of rabbits fed with varying dietary fibre and digestible energy (DE) levels were measured in a 70-d feeding trial using 135 weaner rabbits. The experiment was designed as a 3 × 3 factorial arrangement of treatments having 3 levels of dietary fibre (low, optimum and high) and 3 levels of DE (low, optimum and high). The rabbits were allotted to 9 dietary groups consisting of 15 rabbits each. Main effect of fibre and DE showed that dressing out percentage (P < 0.05), chilled carcass weight (P

This study assessed the reproductive performance of indigenous and crossbred parent stocks and the influence of sire genotype on the growth and efficiency of feed utilization by their progenies. A total of 300 poults, 150 for each genotype were generated from two crosses (Nicholas white x Indigenous and Indigenous x Indigenous turkeys). Data were collected on the reproductive performance of the parents while body weight and feed intake from day old to the 20th week of age were also collected from the progenies generated. The experiment was a complete randomized design with data generated subjected to two way analysis of variance using SAS. The result of the study showed that sire genotype had significant effect (p0.05) on all female reproductive traits such as fertility, hatchability, dead in-germ, weak in-shell and dead in-shell. However, the indigenous turkey had higher fertility percentage (85%) while 80% hatchability was observed in crossbred turkey. Crossbred turkey significantly (p

The effects of plumage colour on different behaviours have been reported in several avian species, but there are only few studies for Nigerian indigenous turkeys (NIT). Fear is a negative affective state that is indicative of suffering and associated with adverse effects on welfare and productivity of livestock species. This study compared fear behaviours in NIT with different plumage colours during early life (first 16 days of life). Seventy-five birds (25 each of white, black and lavender) were used in this study. The three colour phenotypes were derived from the same genetic line. Tonic immobility, emergence, open field, inversion and attention bias tests were done at 7, 9, 12, 14 and 16 days old, respectively. Data were analysed with Kruskal-Wallis tests. The durations of tonic immobility and freezing during the attention bias test were not significantly associated with plumage colour (χ2 =1.7592, df=2, p = 0.42 and χ2 =3.9421, df=2, p = 0.14, respectively). The latency to emerge from a dark box was significantly related to plumage colour (χ2 =8.9229, df=2, p = 0.01), with the shortest emergence latency observed in black NIT. There was a significant plumage colour effect on the duration of ambulation (χ2 =9.6013, df=2, p = 0.01) and a significant effect on the percentage of floor squares explored by the birds in the open field test (χ2 =6.1191, df=2, p = 0.05). The least ambulation time was observed in black NIT (p = 0.02). Lavender turkeys explored fewer floor squares compared to black and white NIT (p = 0.04). The frequency of escape attempts was significantly associated with the plumage colour of the birds (χ2 =11.6810, df=2, p = 0.00). The highest frequency of escape attempts during the open field test was observed in black birds, while there was no significant difference in the frequency of escape attempts of white and lavender birds. There were no plumage colour effects on the duration of preening (χ2 =1.5896, df=2, p = 0.45), wall pecking (χ2 =3.3346, df=2, p = 0.19) and floor pecking (χ2 =1.7483, df=2, p = 0.42) of NIT in the open field test. The results from this study applied to the early life stage. It can be concluded that plumage colour influenced the level of fear in young NIT, with lavender turkeys being the most fearful in three out of the four statistically significant fear indicators (longer emergence duration, lower number of escape attempts and lower percentage of floor squares explored in an open field test), followed by white, whereas black turkeys were least fearful.

Feed and alarm calls induce arousal in chicks, the former for feeding and the latter for danger. However, the response of birds genetically selected for meat or egg production to these calls have not been investigated. Thirty-six chicks each of the ISA Brown pullet and FUNAAB Alpha broiler (2 weeks old) were randomly allocated into three groups per strain and subjected to three playbacks: no call (NCP), feed call (FCP) and alarm call (ACP) continuously for 1 h. The test was carried out for 3 days/week for two weeks. The behaviours monitored were foraging, feeding, pecking (grouped as oral-related behaviour, ORB), freezing and clustering (grouped as fear-related behaviour, FRB). The eye (ET) and under wing (WT) temperatures were measured before and after each call and the change (ΔET and ΔWT) calculated. Tonic immobility (TI) test was performed after each call and the number of attempts to induce TI (NOATI) and the duration of TI (DTI) was recorded. Data on these two behavioural categories were subjected to General Linear Model analyses separately for each call having strain and day as fixed factors. The ΔET, ΔWT, NOATI and DTI were analyzed using Mann-Whitney U test. On both days, ΔET and ΔWT was similar after exposure to 1 h of FCP, ACP and NCP. FCP caused more (P 0.05) by day and strain. Strain × day interaction influenced (P 0.05) strain × day or strain effects on ORB and FRB, with ORB greater (P

Little is known about immediate and long-lasting effect of acute heat stress on chicken cognition. Thirty-five, 9-week-old birds were trained to differentiate two cone colours; white (rewarded, R; with feed underneath) and black (unrewarded, UR; empty). The sixteen birds that learnt the task were randomly assigned to three temperature regimens (TR: 22–24 °C (control), 30–32 and 36–38 °C for 3h/day) for three consecutive days during which rectal (RT), wing (WT) and eye (ET) temperatures were monitored. After the 3 h of exposure, birds were allowed to rest for 1 h before the commencement of the discriminant task. The latencies to open the cones (R and UR) and proportion of cones opened were recorded. A long-lasting effect was tested a week after exposure to TR. TR had a significant effect on RT, WT and ET. The motivation to turn over R cones was weaker in birds exposed to 36–38 °C than birds exposed to 22–24 °C. Also, the proportion of R cones opened were fewer in birds that experienced TR of 36–38 °C compared to birds exposed to 22–24 °C and 30–32 °C specifically on two out of the three cognitive test days (Days 1 and 3). Latency and proportion of UR cones opened was not affected by TR. RT, WT and ET were all negatively and significantly correlated with latency to open the UR cones. Previous exposure of birds to three TR had no effect on the latency to open both cones but the proportion of R cones opened was greater in birds exposed to 30–32 °C compared to the 22–24 °C birds. In conclusion, an immediate (36–38 °C) and long-lasting effect (30–32 °C) of acute heat stress was associated with a weak motivation to perform feed related discrimination task.

The aim of this study was to determine breed differences in the behavioural responses of two domestic chicks to feed and alarm playback calls. Thirty two (32) each of Nigerian indigenous chicks (NIC) and commercial broiler chicks (CBC) of the same age group (a day old) were divided into four replicates with eight chicks per replicate. On day 1, chicks were acclimatized to the test arena for 30 min. On days 2 and 4, the feed call playback was played for one minute and was repeated every 10 min in a 50 min test period (playback repeated four times). On days 3 and 5, the alarm call playback was played for one minute and was repeated every 10 min in a 50 min test period. The behaviour of the chicks was recorded continuously for 50 min using digital cameras. The feed call behavioural responses monitored included the percentage of birds feeding, pecking and foraging while the alarm call behavioural responses recorded were the percentage of birds running, freezing, clustering and crouching. In addition, the duration was recorded for clustering and crouching behaviours. Data on the behaviour of the chicks prior to the playback, during the 1 min playback (immediate response) and after the playback (recovery period) was analysed using both the independent T and Mann-Whitney U tests. Prior to the playback, there was no breed difference on feeding and pecking but a higher percentage of NIC were foraging than the CBC. There was no significant (P > 0.05) effect of breed on the immediate response of the chicks to the feed call in terms of the percentage of chicks feeding, pecking and foraging. The immediate response to the alarm call playback showed that the percentage of CBC and NIC that ran, froze and clustered were similar (P > 0.05). However, the percentage of CBC that crouched was greater (P