THE SIGNIFICANCE OF EARLY BODY MEASUREMENTS IN FAYOUMI CHICKENS COMPARED WITH, A STANDARD BREED R. I. R. AND SOME DEVELOPED LOCAL STRAINS

A total number of 880 pedigreed baby chicks of four strains of chickens; the
Fayoumi (FF) as local strain, Rhode Island Red (RIR) as foreign strain, and Silver
Montazah (SM) and Mandara (MM) as developed local strains, were taken randomly
from closed-flocks, and were subjected to some early body measurements,
The results indicated significant differences between the four strains
concerning the body weight measurements and the males and females of Mandara
strains were heavier significantly than the other's, at 8 and 16 weeks of age,
Mandara had higher relative growth rate (RGR) than other strains at (0-4)
weeks and (4-8) weeks of age but R.I.R. had higher than the other strains at (8-12)
weeks of age, However, Silver Montazah had RG higher than the others at 12-16
weeks only, Overall, estimates, growth rate averages were higher in males than in
females at all periods. In contrary, Fayoumi females were higher than the males at (12
-16) weeks and R.I.R, showed the same result too.
The shank and keel length and breast circumference of Mandara were the
longest compared with the other mentioned strains at (8-16) .weeks of age. The
Fayoumi had the similar results with this respect.
The R.I.R. showed highest growth rate compared with the other strains at 8
and 16 weeks of age, and the FF showed the lowest. Silver Montazah females had
shorter shank length than the males and the keel length of R.I.R. females were longer
than the males, The FF showed the shortest measure for shank length, keel iength
        and breast circumference in both sexes compared with other strains.                   .
Highly significant and positive correlations were found between shank length
and breast circumference at 8 and 16 weeks of age. Similarly positive correlations
were obtained for body weight with shank, keel length and breast circumference at the
same periods. The Fayoumi showed the same results with this respect.
This results suggested that body weight could be improved by 'using
selection index; i.e. of early body weight measurements studied, shank length, keel
length and breast circumference.