A Comparative Study of Productive and Physiological Performance between Two Local Strains of Chicks

The present work was carried out to evaluate and compare the productive and physiological performance and carcass traits of two local strains of chicks. Also, to find out the relationship among the studied traits. A total number of 450 one – day old chicks from each of Silver Montazah (S.M) and Matruoh (MAT), strains (210 males and 240 females) were randomly divided into four experimental groups. The main results could be summarized as follow: Silver Montazah chicks had significantly higher live body weight (LBW) than MAT chicks at 4 and 12 wk of age, while at hatch and 8 wk of age the difference was not significant. Body weight gain (BWG) of S.M chicks was significantly higher than MAT chicks at all studied periods (04, 8-12 and 0-12 wk of age) except during the period from 4-8 wk of age, In addition, males LBW and BWG of each strain were significantly higher than females. Matrouh chicks strain consumed significantly lower amounts of feed than that of S.M chicks during all studied periods and the males of each strain consumed significantly more feed than their females. Feed conversion was significantly better for S.M chicks than MAT ones during the period from 8-12 weeks of age, while it was approximately equal for both strains and sexes during the rest of the experimental periods. Small intestinal length of S.M chicks was significantly longer than that of MAT chicks, while the opposite was true for liver relative weight. While, sex effect was significantly appeared in small intestine length and both liver and Giblets relative weights. Plasma calcium (Ca) and triiodothyronine (T3) hormone as well as blood hemoglobin (Hb) concentrations were significantly higher in S.M Enaiat, M.M.El-Anwer, et al. 298 than MAT chicks and the opposite was true for plasma globuline (Gl). Meanwhile there were no-significant differences in plasma phosphorus (P), total protein (T.P) and albumin (Al) were observed. Correlation coefficient values among LBW and carcass traits were positive and highly significant in both strains. Similar results were obtained for correlation among LBW and studied blood estimates for MAT strain. While this correlation was significant and positive only for blood Hb, T3 and phosphorus in S. M strain. Therefore, the present results indicate that S.M chicks were better in growth rate, thus it can be used for rearing by the small holders in the Egyptian villages.