Multivariate analysis of body measurements of improved Nigerian indigenous chicken in the derived savanna zone of Nigeria

Abstract

Body measurements of improved Nigerian Indigenous Chickens (NIC) for meat production were evaluated using a total of 768 data points obtained from 96 birds in the derived savanna zone of Nigeria.
This was with a view of identifying body measurements that best define the body conformation of this chicken population via Principal Component Analysis (PCA).
The parameters measured were the bodyweight (BW), bodylength (BL), bodygirth(BG), shanklength (SL),thighlength(TL),toelength(TOL),beaklength(BEL)andwinglength(WL).
The results showed that the mean of the measurements taken at 8) weeks were,1.12kg for bodyweight,9.01, 15.92, 14.66, 37.76, 23.34 cm for the shank length, thigh length, wing length, body length and body girth respectively.
Principal component analysis of the Multivariate component of PAST® software was used to Analyse the data Two principal components (PC) accounted for 92.98 % of total variation in morphological traits for this chicken population. The first and second PCs included body girth, body length and thigh length.
The scatter diagram showed that there is no clear clusters between the two sexes in morphometric traits which indicates that, there is no clear indication of sexual dimorphism among the body traits between males and females in this improved indigenous chicken population at week-8.
Further efforts in the selection towards genetic improvement of this population may be effective if efforts are concentrated on the linear body traits in the two principal components (body length, body girth, thigh length, wing length) that accounted for majority of the variation in the body conformation of this chicken population.