Estimate of Hybrid vigour in feed consumption and Egg production of some parents imported poultry strains under Libyan conditions

Abstract

Data collected from weekly records during production from 24 barns (parents + grandparents) to strains Hypeco, Avian and Shaver in two projects ( Poultry and cattle Production Complex- Ghout Al-Sultan- Poultry and cattle production complex–Tawergha) during the same period, Hypeco strain records from 1986 to 1991 were under Dutch management, Avian strain records from 1993 to 1996, Shaver strain records from 1998 to 2001 under Libyan management Each strain consists of two lines, the male line (A, B) and the female line (C, D), the daily feed consumption of the bird throughout the production period, the cumulative feed consumption of the bird throughout the production period, the daily egg production rate of the hen, the cumulative egg production of the housed chickens, and the daily hatching rate of the hen were the traits that were studied. The effect of the barn, age, year, month, and location were all included in the statistical model. After that, the hybrid vigour was estimated by comparing how well the grandparents and parents performed. Hybrid vigour was positive during the production period in the three strains, Hypeco, Avian and Shaver, and in the percentage of daily egg production from the hen(5.2%,12.5%,18.8%), respectively, the cumulative egg production from the hen (9.4%,11.6%,17%) on respectively, and in the percentage of daily hatching of chickens (1.6%,7.9%,18), respectively. The hybrid vigour was positive in the daily feed consumption of a bird in the Avian and Shaver strains (5.8%, 7%), respectively, and negative in the Hypeco strain(-1.2%), the improved performance of parents by exploiting both additive gene effect as a result of selection within the lines and the influence of dominance and epistatic through crossing between these lines, the hybrid vigour of parents was higher than the grandparents in productive and reproductive traits.