Association between Wingspan, Body Length and Body Girth with Body Weight of Broiler Birds at Week Eight (8)

1.1 Introduction

Livestock production industry has been sustained for many years with the aim of establishing it, but this is yet to be fully achieved in most developing countries like Nigeria (Omoleet al., 2007). The primary purpose of livestock production is to produce inexpensive source of protein for human consumption (Nworgu, 2002). However, the success of the livestock industry depends on the amount of nutritional information available and appropriate management technique relevant to poultry farmers such as feeding and management.Broiler have been considered efficient converter of poultry ration to edible meat attaining live weight of about 1.5-3.0kg between 6-10weeks of age depending on the feed quality and quantity, health and other management practice (National Research Council, 1994).

A number of conformation traits are known to be good indicators of body growth and market value of chickens apart from body weight.Poultry breeders have tried to establish the relationships that exist between body weight and physical characteristics (body conformation) such as body length, wing span, thigh length and body girth as this information reflects on the body size as well as the overallperformance of the broiler birds. Body weight is regarded as a function of frame work or size of the animal and its condition. An increase in body weight is highly correlated with feed consumption. The live body weight of any animal is an important variable that determines the market value of that animal. The exact time at which the animal is ready for slaughter can be accessed on the basis of its body weight and general development (Akanno and Ibe, 2006). The relationship between wing span, body girth and length can be used to access body weight in broiler chickens especially at rural areas where scales may not be available.