Effects of sex, polydactylism and rearing systems on serum biochemical indices of Fulani ecotype chickens in Southwestern Nigeria

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to determine the effects of sex, polydactylism and rearing systems on blood serum biochemical indices of 30 Fulani ecotype chickens selected at random from 90 Fulani ecotype chickens raised under intensive management systems (deep litter and caged) for 16 weeks. Blood samples were collected from the birds at 11^th and 16^thweek was used for biochemical analyses. The parameters measured were Cholesterol, Total protein (TP), albumin (ALB), globulin (GB), aspartate amino transferase (AST), alanine amino transferase (ALT) and alkaline phosphate (ALP). The biochemical parameters were not significantly (p>0.05) different among the sex, polydactyly and rearing systems at 11weeks but cholesterol in the male birds were significantly (P<0.05) different. Polydactyly was significantly different (P<0.05) for aspartate amino transferase and rearing system were significantly different (P<0.05) for total protein, globulin, albumin and alkaline phosphatase at week 16. The present result is the serum blood parameter of Fulani ecotype chickens which could serve as baseline information for future improvement of Fulani ecotype chickens.