MORPHOLOGICAL AND PRODUCTION CHARACTERISTICS OF HELMETED GUINEA FOWL (Numida meleagris) IN NIGERIA: A REVIEW

Résumé

The study was conducted to review the morphological and production characteristics of helmeted guinea fowl in Nigeria. Reproductive and production traits which include mating and mating ratio, egg production and egg quality, characteristics composition and hatchability of eggs, as well as morphological traits such as body weight (BW), body length (BL), neck length (NL), wing length (WL), shank length (SL), thigh length (TL), keel length (KL) as well as chest circumference (CC) were reviewed. The BW and BL of guinea fowl ranged between 1.42kg and 1.60kg and 22.42cm and 41.75cm, respectively, while the CC varied from 35.37cm to 39.34cm. The WL, NL, SL, TL and KL varied from 19.34cm and 22.97cm, 17.03cm and 19.02cm, 7.73cm and 9.03, 11.87cm and 13.82, 2.80cm and 12cm, respectively. It was also understood that, guinea fowl stock if carefully managed, may lay 100 or more eggs in a year. Conclusively, the review found that guinea fowl has reasonable body weight and performed averagely in terms of egg and meat production compared to other domestic chickens. However, it is recommended that more work should be carried out to improve the genetic performance of the bird.