| dc.description.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 … | en_US |
