GENETIC AND PHYSIOLOGICAL EVALUATION OF HYLA RABBITS IN GUINEA SAVANNAH ZONE OF NIGERIA
GENETIC AND PHYSIOLOGICAL EVALUATION OF HYLA RABBITS IN GUINEA SAVANNAH ZONE OF NIGERIA
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Date
2012-09
Authors
AKINSOLA, OLUDAYO MICHAEL
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Abstract
106 grand-parent Hyla rabbits of New Zealand (NZW) and California (CAW) breeds were
imported from France consisting of 22 bucks of 11 NZW line (HYLA.GPC) and 11 CAW
line (HYLA.MAX) and 84 does of NZW line (HYLA.NG). They were mated naturally to
produce two genetic groups consisting of 205 and 192 kits for Hyla purebred and crossbred
respectively. 20 non-descript rabbits consisting of 12 old and 8 grower rabbits were used as
control for the physiological evaluation. Adaptability index were found to be
proportionately moderate in Hyla New Zealand grand-parent (HNZW), Hyla California
grand-parent (HCAW) and old non-descript (OND) (0.37, 0.36 and 0.39) respectively.
However values obtained for the F1 progeny lines and grower non-descript were 0.34, 0.33
and 0.35 for Hyla New Zealand (HNP), Hyla New Zealand X Californian (NCP) and grower
non-descript (GND). Genetic groups for both grand-parent and its FI progeny rabbits had
significant (P < 0.05) influence on body-weights at all ages. Reproductive traits such as litter
size at birth (LSB) to litter size at 35 (LS35), litter weight at birth (LWB) to litter weight at
35 (LW35) were significantly (P < 0.05) higher for purebred than the crossbred Hyla
rabbits. Individual kit weights were significantly (P < 0.05) higher for crossbred than the
purebred rabbits at pre and postweaning ages. Estimates of heritability (0.39 - 1.30),
repeatability (0.21 – 0.77), and phenotypic correlations (0.28 - 1.00) were moderate to high,
except for genetic correlations (0.09 - 0.87) which were low to high from birth through 35
days for pre weaning kit weights. From the factor analysis, two principal components which
accounted for 83.97 % of the total variance were extracted for Hyla purebred and three
principal components accounted 89.88 % for Hyla crossbred rabbits. In conclusion, the
average performance of the Hyla rabbits was moderate and this implied gradual
acclimatization to the tropical environment of Zaria. Heritability and repeatability estimates
implied that progress will be faster through individual selection for the pre weaning traits.
The adaptability index should be further investigated to include more variables and larger
sample size to improve accuracy of the estimates obtained
Description
A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL,
AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY, ZARIA NIGERIA
IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT FOR THE AWARD OF MASTERS OF SCIENCE IN
ANIMAL SCIENCE
DEPARTMENT OF ANIMAL SCIENCE,
FACULTY OF AGRICULTURE
AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY
ZARIA
SEPTEMBER, 2012
Keywords
GENETIC,, PHYSIOLOGICAL,, EVALUATION,, HYLA,, RABBITS,, SAVANNAH ZONE,, NIGERIA.