Abstract

A total of 2000 un-sexed day-old-chicks of each Desi, Fayoumi and Rhode Island Red (RIR) breeds were reared and maintained on deep litter system for a period of 20 weeks. In floor pens, each breed was reared separately in a single pen until 7 weeks of age when the 2000 birds had been randomly distributed between pens, with 21 to 24 birds of the same breed per pen (2.00 to 2.50 ft2/bird). The results had revealed that the average day old weight was the highest in RIR, intermediate in Desi and lowest in Fayoumi. The RIR breed had consumed more feed and therefore, gained the highest weight gain than as compared to those of Desi and Fayoumi breeds at all ages of growing phase. The feed conversion was best in RIR and lowest in Desi breed. Desi and Fayoumi chicks had a lower mortality than the RIR breed chicks. The meat composition was found to be insignificant amongst the three breeds. There was no significant difference in blood glucose, triglyceride, cholesterol, calcium, protein, uric acid and alkaline phosphatase values amongst the three breeds. There was also no significant difference in hematological values among all breeds. The total erythrocyte count, hemoglobin and packed cell volume increased with the advancement of age. However, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, mean corpuscular volume and mean corpuscular hemoglobin values decreased gradually with the advancement of age. It may be concluded that overall, RIR chickens had performed better than Fayoumi and Desi chickens. However, a lower mortality rate had been observed in Desi chickens.