Genotype effect on growth parameters and secondary sexual characteristics in three Nigerian cock genotypes and their genetic parameters
Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria.
Research Article
Open Access Research Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies, 2026, 11(02), 021-030.
Article DOI: 10.53022/oarjms.2026.11.2.0032
Publication history:
Received on 11 April 2026; revised on 16 May 2026; accepted on 19 May 2026
Abstract:
The study evaluated effects of genotype on body parameters and secondary sexual characteristics of three Nigerian indigenous cock genotypes (Naked neck(Na), Frizzled feathered(Fz) and Normal feathered(NF)) and their correlations with body weight. A total of 150 Nigerian indigenous cocks of 50 cocks per genotype at 16 weeks of age were studied. Body parameters were: Body weight(BW), breast girth(BG), keel length(KL) and secondary sexual characteristics: comb subjected to Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) of GLM of SAS Ver. 9.2 and means were separated with LSD at 5% probability. The result showed that genotype significantly (P<0.05) influenced growth parameters measured for 6 weeks. For BW, Fz (2.54±0.05Kg) and Na (2.52±0.07Kg) cock genotypes had a significant (P<0.05) higher means than NF (2.33±0.03 Kg). Na (34.00±0.37cm) and Fz (33.00±0.54cm) had higher Means for BG than NF cock genotypes. NF (11.69±0.48cm) had higher means for KL than Na (10.44±0.35cm). For secondary sexual characteristics: CL of NF (9.78±0.36cm) was the longest compared to Fz(5.57±0.56cm) and Na(2.14±0.06cm). SP for Fz(1. 67±0.l5cm) and NF(1.54±0.l5cm) were significantly p<0.5) longer than Na(1. 13±0.l5cm). BW and growth parameters showed a positive correlation range of very low to high (-0.04 – 0.82) with BW/BG (0.82) having the best relationship while BW/Spur (-0.04) came least. Correlation between BW and secondary sexual characteristics ranged between -0.04 and 0.54, with BW/Spur (0.54) being the best correlated parameters in this study. Conclusively, Fz and Na cock genotypes performed best in growth traits while NF genotype was best in secondary sexual characteristics.
Keywords:
Body weight; Cock genotypes; correlations; Secondary sexual characteristics
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