Heritability and sexual dimorphisms on morphometric parameters of Nigerian indigenous chicken genotypes, exotic breed and their crosses to F2 upgrades
Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Uyo Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria.
Research Article
International Journal of Science and Technology Research Archive, 2026, 10(02), 022-032.
Article DOI: 10.53771/ijstra.2026.10.2.0022
Publication history:
Received on 31 March 2026; revised on 11 May 2026; accepted on 13 May 2026
Abstract:
The study evaluated the effect of sexual dimorphisms on the morphometric and genetic parameters of Nigerian indigenous chicken genotypes, exotic breed and their crosses to F2 upgrade. This study was carried out in the Teaching and Research farm of FUNAAB. Nigerian Indigenous: Normal feathered (N), Frizzle-feathered (Fz) and Naked neck (Nk) chickens were crossed with Marshall Exotic breed (M) to obtain F1 (MN, MNk and MFz) and F2 upgrade (MMN, MMFz, MMNk) used for the study. Sex was regarded treatment. The design of the experiment was CRD. Data were collected on growth traits: body weight (BW, body length (BL), breast girth (BG), wing length (WL), wing span (WS), thigh length (TL), shank length (SL) and keel length (KL) from day old to 8 weeks of termination. AL Data were analyzed using the General Linear Model of Statistical Analysis System. Results showed that sex significantly (p<0.001) affected BW and linear body parameters in this study. Males had higher means than their female counterparts on BW and linear body parameters measured at all ages except at weeks 0 to 3 that WL, WS, THL, SL and KL were statistically (p>0.001) similar in mean on both sexes studied. Heritability estimate ranged from low to high with values from 0.02±0.05 to 0.64±0.05 s studied. Shank length had the least heritability estimate value while keel length had the highest in this study. Phenotypic correlations showed positive correlations which ranged from 0.01 to 0.83 for the growth traits measured in this study. In conclusion, Males performed better than their female counterparts in this study.
Keywords:
Chicken; Correlation; Genetic; Heritability; Morphometric; Parameters
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