Thesis (M.Sc. Agric.(Animal Science)) --University of Limpopo, 2011 / An experiment was conducted to determine the effect of egg weight on hatchability, hatch-weight and subsequent productivity of Venda chickens. A total of 360 Venda chicken eggs based on their weights were collected within one week and assigned to four treatments with five replicates of 18 eggs per replicate. A randomized design was used. The four treatment weights were below 49 g, between 50 and 59 g, between 60 and 69 g and above 70 g. the eggs were incubated for 21 days. The chicks were raised up to 13 weeks based on their treatments but fed a similar diet. Egg weight was positively and strongly correlated (r2 = 0.727) with hatchability. Similarly, egg weight was positively and strongly correlated (r2 = 0.0.953) with chick hatch-weight. Between one and seven weeks old, Venda chicks hatched from heavier eggs ate less (P< 0.05) than those hatched from lighter eggs. Heavier eggs hatched chicks with better (P< 0.05) feed conversion ratio. However, chicks hatched from heavier eggs tended to have higher (P< 0.05) live weight at seven weeks old than those hatched from lighter eggs. Heavier eggs tended to hatch chicks that had higher (P< 0.05) mortality rates. However, metabolisable energy and nitrogen retention of the chicks aged seven weeks was not (P> 0.05) affected by egg weight. Growth rate and live weight of the chicks aged between one and seven weeks were optimized at different Venda chicken egg weights of 56 (r2 = 0.514) and 60 (r2 = 0.870) g, respectively. Egg weight had no (P> 0.05) effect on metabolisable energy, feed conversion ratio, growth rate, live weight, carcass weight and carcass parts of Venda chickens aged between eight and 13 weeks except fat pad weight. Venda chickens hatched from lighter eggs had lower (P< 0.05) fat pad weights than those hatched from heavier eggs. Meat samples of chickens hatched from lighter eggs had higher (P< 0.05) nitrogen contents. It is concluded that Venda chicken egg weight affects (P< 0.05) egg hatchability, chick hatch-weight, growth rate, live weight and carcass characteristics of the chicken. However, these variables are optimized at different egg weights. This has implications on selecting eggs for incubation.

Thesis (M.Sc. (Animal Production)) --University of Limpopo, 2018. / Refer to the document

Poultry provide affordable animal protein products compared to other animal products in agricultural industry. The demand of organic food by world health organisation and call for discard of conventional laying cage production method led to this research study. The aim of the study was to determine how (4 x 4) full diallel crossbreeding of the Potchefstroom Koekoek (PK), Naked neck (NN), Lohmann Brown (LB) and White Leghorn (WL) had an effect on production performance, egg parameters, genetic and phenotypic characteristics of F1 crossbreed offspring. The study was conducted at the Agricultural Research Council (ARC), Livestock Production Improvement at the Irene Campus, which is situated about 25 km south of Pretoria. The (4 x 4) full diallel crossbreeding design used on four chicken breeds to produce four pure breeds, six crossbreeds and six reciprocal crosses. The total number of 352 chickens with16 treatments (2 cocks and 20 hens) used in phase 1 and 384 chickens 16 F1-treatments (3 cocks + 21 hens) used in phase 2. Data was analysed by full factorial analysis of variance (ANOVA), General Linear Model procedures and Scheffe post-hoc for multiple comparison of the means of different variable data. The outcome had shown that crossbreeding had an effect on the production performance, genetic and phenotypic characteristics. The performed F1 crossbreeds emerge from crossbreeding between the local dual-purpose PK and commercial LB chicken breeds. PKLB dominated on growth and production performance traits compared to other crossbreeds. All set null hypothesis differ significantly at (p < 0.05), the outcome of all five hypothesis of this study were rejected. In conclusion PKLB was the best performing F1 crossbreed, based on its best performance on growth, FCR, cost of rearing, productive, high quality safe eggshell, economic efficiency and consumer preference (brown eggshell and yolk colour). / Dikgogo di neelana ka dikumo tsa poroteine ya diphologolo go tshwantshanngwa le dikumo tsa diphologolo tse dingwe mo intasetering ya temo. Tlhokego ya dijo tse di bolang mo mekgatlhong ya boitekanelo ya lefatshe le pitso ya go latlha mekgwa ya kumo ya dikgetshe tsa go beela tsa tlwaelo di ne tsa isa kwa thutong ya patlisiso eno. Maikaelelo a thuto eno ke go tlhomamisa gore tsadiso ya kgabaganyo ya dilo tse pedi kgotsa go feta go tshwantshanya kgolagano ya mofuta wa dijene le tikologo tse di tletseng tsa (4 x 4) tsa Potchefstroom Koekoek (PK), Naked Neck (NN), Lohmann Brown (LB) le White Leghorn (WL) di na le ponalo mo tiragatsong ya kumo, diparametera tsa mae, le dijene le diponagalo tsa kgolagano ya mofuta wa dijene le tikologo tsa ditsadiso tsa kgabaganyo tsa ngwana wa F1. Thuto e ne ya diragadiwa kwa Agricultural Research Council (ARC) le Tokafatso ya Kumo ya Diruiwa kwa khempaseng ya Irene, e e agilweng bokana ka 25 km jwa borwa jwa Pretoria. Ditsadiso tsa kgabaganyo tsa dilo tse pedi kgotsa go feta go tshwantshanya kgolagano ya mofuta wa dijene le tikologo tse di tletseng tsa (4 x 4) di ne tsa dirisiwa mo mefuteng ya ditsadiso tsa dikgogo go ntsha mefuta ya ditsadiso e e tletseng e mene, ditsadiso tsa kgabaganyo tse thataro le dikgabaganyo tse di tshwanang tse thataro. Palo e e tletseng ya dikgogo tse di 352 ka ditiragatso di le 16 (mekoko e le 2 le dithole di le 20) di ne tsa dirisiwa mo letlhakoreng la 1 le dikgogo di le 384 ka ditiragatso tsa F1 di le 16 (mekoko e le 3 + dithole di le 21) di ne tsa dirisiwa mo letlhakoreng la 2. Data e ne ya tshetshereganngwa ka tshetshereganyo ya dintlha tse di tletseng tsa pharologantsho (ANOVA), dikgato tsa General Linear Model le tshwantshanyo ya bontsintsi ya morago (ANOVA), dikgato tsa General Linear Model le tshwantshanyo ya bontsintsi ya morago ga tiragalo ya Scheffe ka mekgwa ya data ya pharologantsho e e farologaneng. Ditlamorago di ne tsa bontsha gore ditsadiso tsa kgabaganyo di na le ponalo mo tiragatsong ya kumo, ga mmogo le diponagalo tsa dijene le setlhopha sa kgolagano ya mofuta wa dijene le tikologo. Go ne ga diriswa mefuta ya ditsadiso tsa kgabaganyo ya F1 tse di tlhagelelang go tswa mo ditsadisong tsa kgabaganyo magareng ga mefuta ya ditsadiso tsa dikgogo tsa PK tsa lebaka la gabedi la selegae le LB ya kgwebo. PKLB e ne ya fekeetsa metlhala ya tiragatso ya kgolo le kumo go tshwantshanngwa le mefuta ya ditsadiso tsa kgabaganyo tse dingwe. Setlhopha sotlhe sa dikakanyo tsa lefela se x farologana mo go bonagalang ka (p < 0.05) le ditlamorago tsa dikakanyo tse tlhano tse tsotlhe tsa thuto eno di ne tsa kganediwa. Kwa bokhutlong, PKLB e ne ya nna mofuta wa ditsadiso tsa F1 o o diragatsang go gaisa, go ikaegilwe ka tiragatso mabapi le kgolo, FCR, tshenyegelo ya go tsadisa, kumo, boleng jo bo kwa godimo jwa dikgapetla tsa mae tse di babalesegileng, bokgoni jwa ikonomi le boikgethelo jwa modirisi (dikgapetla tsa mae tse di tshetlha le mmala wa tlhae). / Agriculture and  Animal Health / Ph. D. (Agriculture)