EGG PRODUCTION AND QUALITY TRAITS OF SASSO-RIR, NORMAL FEATHERED LOCAL AND THEIR F1 CROSS CHICKENS MANAGED UNDER ON-STATION CONDITION IN SOUTHERN ETHIOPIA

Background. Poultry production is a tool for livelihood improvement and poverty alleviation in the developing countries. Indigenous chickens are numerous but lower in egg production performance than exotic chickens in Ethiopia. Objective. To compare egg yield, feed conversion ratio (FCR), mortality, and egg quality traits of Normal feathered local (LL), Sasso-RIR (SRSR) and their F1-cross (LSR) chickens under on-station conditions. Methodology. Data on egg production, feed intake and mortality were collected for 33 weeks whereas egg quality was assessed at 6, 9 and 12 months of age at poultry farm of Hawassa University. The experiment was laid out with Completely Randomized Design with four replications. Results. Next to SRSR chickens, LSR performed higher than LL chickens in terms of egg number per hen (96.8), egg weight (46.9 g/egg), daily feed intake (102 g/hen), body weight (1882 g/hen), albumen height (5.97 mm), albumen weight (27.2 g/egg) and albumen weight ratio (56.8). FCR was best, intermediate and worst for SRSR (4.19), LL (4.57), and LSR (5.20) chickens, respectively. Higher egg weight (52.9 g), yolk weight (18.3 g), albumen weight (28.9 g), and yolk weight ratio (35.1) were obtained from eggs of older hens whereas higher albumen weight ratio (59.4) and shell weight ratio (11.0) were obtained from eggs of younger hens. For LL chickens, the lowest values of egg weight, egg length, yolk color, albumen weight, albumen weight ratio were obtained at older ages whereas the lowest value of yolk weight ratio was obtained at younger ages. Implications. The results of the present study contribute in knowing the effects of cross-breeding of LL chicken with SRSR chicken on egg yield and quality. Conclusions. The exotic blood of Sasso-RIR chicken had played a significant role in upgrading most of the economically important egg production and quality traits. However, the influence of genotype on some egg quality traits depends on laying age of hen. .