Posted by By Stellamaris Anowai on
The Nigeria Animal Production Institute has developed a new breed of chicken which is adaptable to Nigerian environment. The new chicken, Chuka Brown, was developed as the institute's efforts to boost poultry production in the country.
The Nigeria Animal Production Institute has developed a new breed of chicken which is adaptable to Nigerian environment. The new chicken, Chuka Brown, was developed as the institute's efforts to boost poultry production in the country.
Announcing this at the weekend, the President, World Poultry Science Association, Nigeria chapter, Professor Emmanuel Sonaiya said it took the institute 15 years to develop the breed which was reputed to be one of the best around the world.
Sonaiya said the most exciting thing about the newly developed breed was that it had out performed its counterpart called Rhoda Island Red adding that its uniqueness lay in its adaption to Nigeria's environment.
According to him, "It (Chuka Brown) has out-performed the Rhoda Island Red, its counterpart. So, if the Chuka Brown is better than the Rhoda Island Red, that is good. That is an achievement. And because it was developed here, it is adapted to this environment".
He said that findings from the test showed that the new breed of layers had a high rating adding that it's a very interesting thing which is dying for commercialization. Sonaiya noted that Chuka Brown had age at first egg of between 138 days and 150 days which implication suggests that total number of eggs produced for the whole year would be higher than the Rhoda Island Red.
However, he noted that its egg production was not as high as the synthetic breeds which reaches between 300 and 330 eggs by year, adding, "if an hen is producing 330 eggs in a year, that means it is producing every day. Sonaiya disclosed that the implication of the rapid lay was that they would need replacement at 65 weeks of age. According to him, "it has not been commercialised yet because the equipment to produce it in large quantities was not available in the institute".