EFFECT OF SEASONAL CHANGES ON THE GROWTH CURVE PARAMETERS OF MALE AND FEMALE CHICKENS

Résumé

Weekly body weight data of 417 chickens were fitted to Gompertz growth model to study the seasonal variation on the predicted growth curve parameters of male and female genotypes of chicken (naked neck-NN, FUNNAB Alpha-BA and Giriraja-GR chickens). The growth data were collected during late dry season of January-March and early wet season of April-June. The data were transformed to a heavy-tailed distribution and analyzed using Bayesian approach. The result of the study showed that early wet season as predicted by the model supported high weight gain in all the genotypes. Giriraja however, among the three genotypes was superior in weight gain followed by NN and BA. During late dry season, exponential profitability is achieved at 10-13 weeks and 12-14 weeks during early wet season.