Osteometric Effects of Surgical Caponisation on Some Long Bones in Cockerel Chickens

Abstract

The study was conducted to assess the osteometric effects of surgical caponisation on long bones of cockerel chickens. Sixty- (60-) day-old chicks were distributed into two experimental groups with thirty (30) cockerels per group. The birds were caponised at eight (8) weeks of age. The mean of final body weights of caponized groups was significantly higher (P≤0.05) than the uncaponised group. The weights of all long bones measured as well as lengths between the two groups were not statistically different (P>0.05) from one another except the weight of femur of the caponized group and the lengths of tibia and tarsometatarsus (P<0.05) that differed significantly from one another (P<0.05). All the proximal, midshaft, and distal diameters of all the long bones measured between the two groups were not statistically different (P>0.05) from one another except the midshaft diameter of ulna that was significantly higher (P<0.05) in caponized group. It was concluded that caponisation of cockerel chickens at eight (8) weeks of age has no significant osteometric effects (P>0.05) on almost all the long bones studied when they were normalised to the final body weights.