A COMPARISON OF THE INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL EGG QUALITY CHARACTERISTICS OF THREE STRAINS OF F1 LOCAL TURKEYS REARED IN THE HUMID TROPICS

Abstract

This study was carried out to determine the effect of strain on internal and external egg quality characteristics of three strains of local turkey. A total of Sixty-six (66) adult breeding local turkeys of three phenotypic classes (Black, White and Lavender) were used as a parent population for the mating. Each strain had 18 hens mated to 3 toms. The three strains Black, White and Lavender were used to generate 113, 104 and 182 eggs, respectively collected over a period of 10 weeks. The study was conducted in the Poultry Unit of Teaching and Research Farm of Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, Abia State.Completely Randomized Design (CRD) was used for the experiment with 3 replicates and a mating ratio of 1 tom: 6 hens for each strain.All data collected were subjected to analysis of variance with the Generalized Linear Model (GLM) of the Statistical Procedure of Social Sciences (2010). Significantly different means were separated using Duncan’s New Multiple Range Test (Duncan, 1955).The effect of strain was significant (P < 0.05) for most of the traits, except in egg shape index, shell thickness, shell ratio and some of the yolk traits. The Black and White strain had significantly (P < 0.05) higher egg weight, egg length and egg width compared to the Lavender strains. The mean values for egg weight ranged from 57.44 ± 3.12 to 75.47 ± 0.98 for Black, 59.36 ± 1.44 to 75.65 ± 0.08 for White and 56.38 ± 0.58 to 72.81 ± 2.14 for Lavender. The mean values for egg length, ranged from 61.82 ± 1.32 to 65.50 ± 1.34 for Black, 61.85 ± 0.73 to 65.61 ± 3.20 for White and 59.44 ± 0.93 to 63.04 ± 0.74 for Lavender. Egg width values ranged from 40.61 ± 0.51 to 47.60 ± 0.33 for Black, 40.85 ± 0.73 to 47.82 ± 0.41 for White and 40.0. ± 0.24 to 45.63 ± 0.53 for Lavender. The Black and White strain also had significantly (P < 0.05) higher albumen weight, albumen height, albumen index and Haugh unit when compared to its counterpart strain. These significant effectsobserved in the study suggeststhe existence of genetic variation among the local strains. The result therefore indicates that strains significantly influenceinternal and external egg quality characteristics especially egg weight. It is recommended that adequate management and breeding techniques should be maintained during Turkey breeding to enhance increased growth rate in meat and egg production.