Comparative study of growth performance, meat quality and haematological parameters of Fayoumi, Rhode Island Red and their reciprocal crossbred chickens

Figures & data

Table 1 Ingredients and nutrients composition of diets fed to experimental birds.

	Week 1–8	Week 9–20
Ingredients, %
Corn	35.60	42.00
Rice	23.00	12.00
Rice polish	10.00	9.48
Soyabean meal	10.00	16.
Canola meal	8.00	6.40
Corn gluten meal (60%)	5.00	5.00
Fish meal	5.00	5.00
Limestone	1.50	2.00
DCP	1.25	1.50
NaCl	0.33	0.27
Premix°	0.25	0.30
DL-methionine	0.07	0.05
Total	100.00	100.00
Calculated nutrients
Metabolizable energy, kcal/kg	2800	2800
Crude protein, %	18.5	17
Crude fat, %	3.80	4.30
Ether extract, %	3.31	3.30
Calcium, %	1.0	2.5
Available phosphorus, %	0.56	0.51
Lysine, %	1.00	0.69
Methionine, %	0.43	0.31

DCP, di-calcium phosphate;

° supplied per kg of diet: vitamin A, 12,000 U; vitamin D₃, 2200 U; vitamin E, 10 mg; vitamin K₃, 2 mg; vitamin B₁, 1 mg; vitamin B₂, 5 mg; vitamin B₆, 1.5 mg; vitamin B₁₂, 0.01 mg; nicotinic acid, 30 mg; folic acid, 1 mg; pantothenic acid, 10 mg; biotin, 0.05 mg; choline chloride, 500 mg; copper, 10 mg; iron, 30 mg; manganese, 60 mg; zinc, 50 mg; iodine, 1 mg; selenium, 0.1 mg; cobalt, 0.1 mg.

Table 2 Comparative growth performance of Fayoumi, Rhode Island Red and reciprocal crossbred chickens during brooding and growing periods (up to 20 weeks).

Parameters	Age, weeks		Breeds			SEM	P
		RIR	Fayoumi	RIFI	FIRI
Day-old weight, g/bird	-	31.30±0.38^a	20.90±0.25^c	25.24±0.28^b	30.00±0.23^a	<0.010
Body weight, g	0–8	514.60	385.00	487.96	521.52	-
9–20	1125.40	781.66	692.04	739.00	-
0–20	1640.00	1166.60	1213	1260	-
Body weight gain, g/bird	0–8	483.30±4.30^a	364.10±4.24^c	462.56±4.26^b	491.52±4.48^a	17.4	<0.000
9–20	642.10±3.08^c	417.56±5.69^d	666.80±6.31^b	708.48±2.30^a	21.5	<0.000
0–20	1608.00±4.36^a	1145.70±3.59^d	1188.00±4.10^c	1230.00±4.15^b	32.0	<0.000
Average feed, g/bird	0–8	3320±7.64^a	2210±10.41^c	2164.78±9.30^d	2555.90±10.57^b	60.3	<0.000
9–20	4440±7.63^a	2740±10.40^b	2533.84±10.67^c	2302.56±10.10^d	65.09	<0.000
0–20	7620±300.45^a	6720±273.66^b	5080.94±151.24^c	5596.50±161.28^b	72.0	<0.004
Feed conversion	0–8	6.45±0.17^a	5.75±0.14^b	4.68±0.11^d	5.20±0.10^c	0.55	<0.015
9–20	3.95±0.29^a	3.50±0.14^a^b	3.80±0.12^a^b	3.25±0.15^b	0.40	<0.003
0–20	4.64±0.36^b	5.76±0.14^a	4.40±0.20^b	4.55±0.14^b	0.43	<0.030
Mortality, %	0–8	12.00±0.29^a	9.00±1.04^b	7.30±0.21^c	7.10±0.19^c	0.70	<0.000
9–20	6.00±0.29^a	4.00±0.22^b	2.80±0.23^c	2.69±0.13^c	0.30	<0.000
0–20	20.00±0.28^a	12.00±0.28^b	10.0±0.25^c	9.80±0.22^c	0.80	<0.000
Dressing, %	20	57.5±0.28^a^b	54.08±0.28^b	62.40±0.28^a	62.60±0.28^a	2.75	<0.030

a—c Means with different letters differ significantly (P≤0.05);

RIR, Rhode Island Red; RIFI, RIR male × Fayoumi female; FIRI, Fayoumi male × RIR female. Data are expressed as mean ± standard error.

Table 3 Comparative meat composition (%) of Fayoumi, Rhode Island Red and reciprocal crossbred chickens (at 20 weeks of age).

Parameters		Breeds			P
	RIR	Fayoumi	RIFI	FIRI
Breast
Dry matter	27.30±0.20	26.83±0.99	27.35±0.25	26.75±0.21	>0.145
Crude protein	83.60±2.25	84.10±2.10	83.65±2.15	84.25±2.18	>0.159
Crude fat	6.75±0.22	6.55±3.00	6.48±0.26	06.59±0.28	>0.180
Total ash	4.25±0.45	4.21±0.30	4.23±0.33	4.25±0.35	>0.190
Thigh
Dry matter	29.32±4.00	28.36±1.90	29.35±2.00	28.46±2.30	>0.179
Crude protein	67.42±2.50	67.35±2.20	67.45±2.40	67.55±2.35	>0.198
Crude fat	17.69±2.40	17.89±2.90	18.20±2.70	18.56±2.80	>0.197
Total ash	5.00±0.71	5.00±0.75	5.10±0.78	5.00±0.73	>0.185

RIR, Rhode Island Red; RIFI, RIR male × Fayoumi female; FIRI, Fayoumi male × RIR female. Data are expressed as mean ± standard error.

Table 4 Haematological parameters in breeds of Fayoumi, Rhode Island Red and their reciprocal crosses at different ages.

Parameters	Breeds		Age, weeks
		4	12	20
Total erythrocyte count, 10^6/mm^3	RIR	1.76±0.27	1.93±0.09	2.58±0.13
	Fayoumi	2.55±0.06	3.18±0.05	3.33±0.03
	RIFI	1.70±0.20	1.80±0.08	2.67±0.10
	FIRI	2.00±0.02	2.20±0.08	2.55±0.01
Haemoglobin concentration, g/dL	RIR	8.23±0.17	8.34±0.08	9.14±0.08
	Fayoumi	7.06±0.6	7.68±0.12	7.90±0.06
	RIFI	7.60±0.21	8.00±0.05	8.51±0.04
	FIRI	7.86±0.8	7.80±0.10	8.60±0.08
Packed cell volume, %	RIR	28.12±0.64	29.05±0.60	29.20±1.36
	Fayoumi	26.56±0.66	27.38±0.46	28.05±0.63
	RIFI	27.35±0.60	28.30±0.50	28.70±1.10
	FIRI	27.43±0.56	28.38±0.40	28.85±0.60
Erythrocyte sedimentation rate, mm in 1^st hour	RIR	3.50±0.12	3.00±0.42	2.75±0.26
	Fayoumi	3.17±0.18	2.44±0.11	2.06±0.11
	RIFI	3.40±0.11	2.75±0.41	2.39±0.14
	FIRI	3.37±0.16	2.76±0.10	2.26±0.10
Mean corpuscolar volume, μm^3	RIR	164.55±9.95	150.78±8.64	113.26±7.53
	Fayoumi	103.99±2.74	86.18±1.64	84.27±1.94
	RIFI	135.15±8.36	119.30±5.54	99.25±6.00
	FIRI	136.09±3.72	120.12±4.60	99.76±5.90
Mean corpuscolar haemoglobin, pg/mL	RIR	48.14±10.36	43.30±2.20	35.46±1.91
	Fayoumi	27.72±0.74	24.19±0.59	23.74±0.29
	RIFI	38.14±09.26	33.75±3.00	29.80±1.51
	FIRI	38.29±1.80	33.80±0.39	30.02±0.25
Mean corpuscolar haemoglobin concentration, %	RIR	29.29±1.00	28.75±0.64	31.36±1.44
	Fayoumi	26.61±0.74	28.07±0.67	28.19±0.74
	RIFI	28.00±1.02	28.45±0.52	29.76±1.30
	FIRI	28.02±0.65	28.51±0.65	29.77±0.70

RIR, Rhode Island Red; RIFI, RIR male × Fayoumi female; FIRI, Fayoumi male × RIR female. Data are expressed as mean ± standard error.