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Background: The Barbary partridge (Alectoris barbara) is a wild endemic species of North-Africa. The lack of information about this species, allows putting research focus in the hunting center of Zeralda, on the selection of a line for an improvement on the zootechnical characteristics of this population. Methods: Over 13 weeks of follow-up, we have performed weekly measurements on 3 successive generations F12-F14 with daily measurements of food intake. We are interested at the fundamental level of the biological characterization of both divergent lines. The analysis of the effects of selection pressures on the growth to estimate the metabolizable energy of each line. Result: During 273 days of study period, we noticed that the metabolizable energy has an average divergence between the fast line and the slow one with 0.328 Kcal/day since birth and an average divergence of 8.899 Kcal/day towards the 13th week in favour of the fast line. Significance noticed between males and females with a favour of the males which are more important. In addition to that, the values of weight-based consumption index imply higher indices for the slow line compared to the values of the fast line. Our results highlight the efficiency of the selection scheme. This progress will allow developing the restoration methods and/or the natural restocking populations on scientific bases. more...

Capsule: Nest site selection of Black-bellied Sandgrouse Pterocles orientalis in an Algerian arid environment is dictated by a combination of topography, human presence, landscape and space.Aims: T... more...