Comparative characteristics of the growth and development of meategg and egg-meat chickens

Abstract

Relevance. Recently, the number of many breeds and lines of chickens has significantly decreased, while others are under threat of extinction. Reducing the genetic resources of chicken’s worldwide limits the possibilities of future breeding programs. The study of the genetic diversity of the species allows you to more accurately manage the productive and potential of chicken breeds, the possibilities of its use for obtaining Biosafety and full-fledged food. Adding exterior estimation data to the bird breeding value forecast increases its accuracy and is relevant.Methods. The study was conducted on chickens of two experimental populations «Experimental CS» meat-egg of productivity and «Experimental LZS» egg-meat productivity from the Genetic collection of rare and endangered chicken breeds Russian Research Institute of Farm Animal Genetics and Breeding — Branch of the L.K. Ernst Federal Science Center for Animal Husbandry.Results. The highest absolute increase in live weight of chickens is observed in the period of 4-8 weeks, and the relative increase at the age of 4 weeks, regardless of the type of productivity of chickens. The results of cultivation largely depend on the intensity of growth of the bird in the early period, up to four weeks of age. The superiority of the meat-egg population in comparison with the egg-meat population was revealed in terms of breast circumference (5.0–7.7%).