Non-genetic sources of variation and temporal variability in growth and feed efficiency traits among phylogenetically distinct clusters of indigenous chicken in Kenya

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the influence of non-genetic factors on feed efficiency in indigenous chicken. Residual feed intake (RFI), residual gain (RG) and residual intake and gain (RIG) were used as measures of feed efficiency. Feed intake and body weight data were collected on 107 experimental birds on a daily and weekly basis, respectively, from ages 11 to 20 weeks. A general linear model was fitted to determine the effect of sex, cluster, genotype and hatch group on mean performance and to assess temporal variation across clusters. The overall mean performance for daily gain (ADG), daily feed intake (ADFI), weekly metabolic body weight (MBW), RFI, RG and RIG was 10.38 g/day, 133.01 g/day, 164.12 g/day, 0.00 (±14.23), 0.00 (±1.83) and 0.00 (±14.64), respectively. Sex significantly influenced variation in ADG and RG while hatch group influenced all traits except ADFI …