Association of Live Body Weight with Morphometric Traits in Three Poultry Breeds

Abstract

The present study was conducted during January to December, 2023 to investigate the body weight and morphometric traits of on 300 poultry birds belonging to Kadaknath, RIR and Punjab Brown chicken breeds and to also find out their functional associations. The traits were measured bi-weekly from the 12^th to 26^th week of age. Punjab Brown poultry birds had significantly higher (p≤0.01) body weight, beak length, wing length, keel length, and body girth in comparison to Rhode Island Red (RIR) and Kadaknath. Body length and shank width were found to be significantly (p≤0.01) higher in Punjab Brown from 12 to 16 weeks of age, while RIR birds exhibited higher values from 20 to 26 weeks of age. Shank length and comb length were consistently higher in RIR birds across all age groups except at 12 weeks, where Punjab Brown birds showed higher values. Significant (p≤0.01) and positive regression coefficients of body weight on SL from 14 to 26 weeks and on CL from 16^th to 26^th week of age were observed in RIR chicken. In Kadaknath poultry birds, positive, significant (p≤0.01) regression coefficients were observed for body weight on CL from 16 to 26 weeks of age and for WL from 18 to 26 weeks of age. Moreover, in Punjab, Brown poultry birds, a positive significant (p≤0.01) regression coefficient of body weight was observed on CL from 14 to 26 weeks of age, except 24^th week of age, on KL from 16 to 26 weeks of age, except 20^th week of age, and on WL from 14 to 20^th week of age.