EGGS HATCHABILITY AND PREDICTION OF BODY WEIGHT IN RHODE ISLAND, NIGERIAN LOCAL CHICKENS AND THEIR RECIPROCAL CROSSES

This study was conducted to determine the hatchability of eggs and to predict bodyweight in Rhode Island, Nigerian local chickens and their reciprocal crosses. A total of 241 eggs were set in the incubator to determine the fertility, hatchability, % Hatch, % dead in shell, % dead in cell and % deformed chicks in the four genotypes (Rhode Island Red (RIR) x Rhode Island White (RIW),Rhode Island Red (RIR) x Rhode Island White (RIW),Nigerian Local Red (NLR) x Rhode Island White (RIW) andNigerian Local Red (NLR) x Nigerian Local White (NLW). Only 94 eggs were hatched. Records of weekly body weight were taken on the 94 chicks. The data collected on body weight of chicks were subjected to correlation analysis to determine the association between body weights of chicks at different ages. Simple linear regression was used to predict chick’s weight at different ages. Results indicated that the fertility, hatchability of fertile eggs and hatchability of egg set for the four genotypes were 72-89 percent, 24-65 and 19- 57 percent, respectively. Eggs from Rhode Island Red (RIR) x Rhode Island White (RIW) were better in hatchability traits than eggs from Nigerian Local Red (NLR) x Nigerian Local White (NLW) and crossbreds chicken. Significant (P