Follicular development and productive performance at the onset of production in two egg-laying breeds/Desenvolvimento folicular e desempenho produtivo no inicio do ciclo de postura em duas racas de poedeiras

• Published in: Ciência rural Vol. 44; no. 3; p. 548
• Main Authors: Ferreira, Priscila Becker, Favero, Andre, Rosa, Alexandre Pires, Macedo, Andre, Taschetto, Diogo, Barbosa, Jose Guilherme Morschel
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Spanish
• Published: Universidade Federal de Santa Maria 01-03-2014
• Subjects: Eggs (Food); Legal fees
• ISSN: 0103-8478

It was evaluated the reproductive traits of two pure breed laying hens. There were used 800 females, 400 White Plymouth Rock (PRW) and 400 Barred Plymouth Rock pullets, from 16 to 24 week of age. Pullets were managed in the same manner and received water and feed ad libitum. Body weight, feed intake, hen-day egg production, feed conversion, egg weight, oviduct weight and number of ovarian follicles were weekly measured. It was used a completely randomized design with two breeds (PRW and PRB) and five replicates of 80 pullets. The data were submitted to ANOVA and means compared by Student's T test 5% of significance. At 24 weeks of age the PRW pullets had a higher egg production (P=0.006) and better feed conversion (P=0.020) than the PRBs. The PRBs presented higher body weight than the PRWs, however, the number of large yellow follicles at 20 weeks, and the relative oviduct weight at 24 weeks of age were greater in the PRW pullets (P=0.029). The PRW pullets were more efficient in the production parameters and were more precocious in the development of the reproductive tract than PRB pullets.