Seasonal variation in the reproductive performance of chicken

摘要

The present investigation pertains to hatchability performance of light and heavy breeds of poultry. A total of 122631 eggs distributed over a period of 6 years (1999 to 2004) were utilized for the study of effect of period, season and breed on fertility and hatchability performance. The fertility, hatchability on fertile and total eggs set basis was significantly higher in light breed (84.60±0.654, 84.56±0.802 and71.77± 1.034) over the heavy breeds (80.89±0.641,79.79±0.819 and 64.20±0.668) ofchicken eggs. The fertility, hatchability on fertile and total eggs set basis was significantly higher during winter season. Year 1999 was found best for the reproductive performance of chicken. It was concluded that period, season and breed had significant effect on fertility, hatchability on fertile eggs set and total eggs set basis except seasons effect on hatchability on fertile eggs. Better fertility and hatchability were recorded among light b reeds in comparison to heavy breeds. Significantly superior fertility and hatchability on total eggs set was observed during winter season. However, hatchability on fertile eggs set basis was found similar in all the seasons.