Genetic parameters for some growth traits of Nigerian local chickens

Genetic parameters were estimated for bodyweight (BWT), shank length (SHL), and wing length (WL) of Nigerian local chicken (NLC) from 4 to 20 weeks of age by fitting dyadic mixed model (dmm) equations which yield estimates of variance components equivalent to minimum norm quadratic unbiased estimator (MINQUE). Data obtained from 600 chicks, progenies of 300 hens and 30 cocks were used for the analysis. The heritability estimates range from 0.08 to 0.80 for BWT, 0.03 to 0.69 for SHL and 0.22 to 0.47 for WL. The genetic correlations among BWT, SHL and WL at different ages were high and positive and range from 0.18 to 0.96 with the exemption of SHL and WL at 16 weeks (0.06). The phenotypic correlations were positive and range from 0.10 to 0.91. The results imply that NLC could be improved on any of the studied traits through mass selection and that improvement in one trait will result to correlated improvement in the others.