Comparative study on productive performance and hatching traits of three age groups of indigenous Mushki Aseel chickens

The purpose of study was to compare three different age groups of Mushki Aseel, an indigenous chicken breed maintained at Indigenous Chicken Genetic Resource Center (ICGRC), Department of Poultry Production, University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences Lahore for the duration of 4 weeks. For this, 24 birds (21 females and 3 males) of three different age groups (40, 70 and 100 weeks) were maintained respectively. Seven females and one male were placed in one treatment unit and stud mating system was used. The experiment was conducted according to Completely Randomized Design (CRD). The data thus obtained were statistically analyzed by analysis of variance (ANOVA) techniques. Means were compared using Fisher’s LSD (Least Significant Difference) test by using SAS (Statistical Analysis System), version 9.1.  The body weight of third production cycle was significantly higher than 2 nd and 1 st while 2 nd production cycle showed significantly higher egg number and egg weight. Feed intake was also significantly higher in case of 2 nd production cycle. No significant differences were observed regarding Calories, Protein, Ca, P, lysine & methionine intake. Significant differences were observed in hatchability, hatch of fertile, and fertility, showing highest values for 1 st production cycle.  Significantly lower number of infertile eggs, dead in shell and dead germs was observed in 1 st production cycle.