[An Early Selection for Improving Egg Production Of Syrian Local Hens In Coastal Area Conditions]

The aim of this study was to evaluate the most important productive indicators of the Syrian local poultry under the coastal conditions. So, two generations were selected dining 150 days, the first one included 163 hens (F 1), whereas the second included 169 (P2). An early selection applied to study the egg production traits. The results showed that the age of sexual maturity of Fl hens recorded 202 days, while the same character was 195 days for P2 ones. The egg weight average was 50,26 g and 49,75 g in Fl and P2 respectively, and the hatch ability was 82,65% and 83,44% in Fl and P2 respectively. The fertility of Fl and P2 hens recorded 88,7% and 88,2% respectively, whereas the hatching rate was 68,6% in Fl and 69,3% in F2. The egg production for 5 months was 86,94 eggs in F2 and 81,1 eggs in F 1, so F2 hens were surpassed F 1 hens by about 5,84 eggs, and the monthly average was 17,39 in F2 compared to 16,22 eggs in Fl. The selection efficiency was 3,89 egg/year of the two selected generations. The results showed also, that the avenge percentage of egg productivity in Fl and F2 was 54% and 58% respectively, and the egg mass in F2 recorded 28,72 g/hen /day compared to 27,02 glhen /day in Fl. The average of egg productivity was 0,54 egg/hen/day in Fl compared to 0,58 egg/hen/day in P2. The feed conversion ratio recorded 4,23 in Fl compared to 3,99 in F2 ones, so F2 selected hens surpassed Fl ones. The shell color of the produced egg was varied from white to light brown gradually. The results showed that the phenotypic values of the studied local hens characteristics were lower than the well known improved hybrids, due to the absence of breeding programs, where it could be exploited the phenotypic and genotypic variations of the studied local hens in the genetic improvement programs.