Livestock Studies 2006, Vol 46, Num, 2     (Pages: 013-021)

Some characteristics of egg production of Denizli and Gerze local breeds

Neval ÖZDOĞAN 1 ,İ. Safa GÜRCAN 2

1 Lalahan Hayvancılık Merkez Araştırma Enstitüsü-ANKARA
2 Ankara Üniversitesi Veteriner Fakültesi Biyoistatistik Anabilim Dalı-ANKARA
- Some egg production characteristics on Denizli and Gerze breeds, Turkish local hen breeds, were investigated. The hen including 235 Denizli and 59 Gerze were randomly chosen from conserved flocks reared in Lalahan Livestock Research Institue. The study was carried out with three hatch groups in each breeds by one week interval called as D1, D2, D3 for Denizli and G1, G2, G3 for Gerze. At the end of 29 weeks period average egg production figures (% HH) were found to be 58.08 ± 2.87, 54.69 ± 1.45, 55.48 ± 0.58 % for Denizli and 39.86 ± 2.91, 43.05 ± 2.60, 46.52 ± 2.75 % for Gerze groups, respectively. Differences in egg production (% HH) were significant (P<0.05) between the genotype groups. Mean egg production numbers were 117.13 ± 4.61, 111.44 ± 3.06, 112.59 ± 3.06 eggs for Denizli and 82.81 ± 6.76, 88.29 ± 7.94, 94.06 ± 4.37 eggs for Gerze groups, respectively. Differences in egg production were significant (P<0.001, P<0.01 and P<0.01) among the genotype groups. Average egg weights were found to be 54.21 ± 0.51, 54.00 ± 0.37, 52.94 ± 0.36 g for Denizli and 51.13 ± 1.13, 49.90 ± 0.60, 47.85 ± 0.59 g for Gerze groups respectively. Differences in egg weight were significant among the genotype groups (P<0.05, P<0.001, P<0.001).

In conclusion, the number of egg during study, egg production (%) and egg weight were found to be higher in Denizli than in Gerze fowl. High variance range of egg weight were obtained in both breeds. Keywords : Hen, Denizli, Gerze, egg production, local breeds