Comparative study of growth performance, meat quality and haematological parameters of three-way crossbred chickens with reciprocal F1 crossbred chickens in a subtropical environment

A total of 2000 unsexed day-old chicks of each three-way (White Leghorn male×F1 female) [Fayoumi male×Rhode Island Red (RIR) female] crossbred and reciprocal F1 crossbred (RIR×Fayoumi) chickens were obtained from the hatchery of the Poultry Research Institute, Rawalpindi. The chickens of each breed were divided into five groups as replicates under a completely randomised design, so that there were 400 chickens in each replicate. The birds were maintained on a deep litter system for a period of 20 weeks. The results revealed that the average day-old weight was highest in Rural Leghorn (RLH), intermediate in Fayoumi male×RIR female (FIRI) and lowest in RIR male×Fayoumi female (RIFI) chickens. The RLH and FIRI chickens consumed more feed and gained maximum (p<0.05) weight gain than that of RIFI crossbred chickens at all ages of the growing phase. The poor (p<0.05) feed conversion was observed in RIFI and better feed conversion was recorded in FIRI and RLH crossbred chickens. The RLH three-crossbred chickens ...