A study was collected in two local government arears of Oyo state,Nigerian, an adult, free-ranging indigenous chiken on the incidence and possible influence of the spur gene (sl) on the body weight and five other matric traits: Body length (BL), wing length (WL), shank length (SL), shank thickness (ST) and breast girth (BG) which are indicative of the body size and growth 486 (37.15%) of the 1039 sampled local fowls were sparrowed and the gene frequency was estimated to 0.61. the calculated gene and genotype frequencues were significantly different (p<0.05) from the expected values for a recessive gene where complete dominance is operating while sex analysis revealed high significant (P<0.01) incidene of the spur in males (70.3%). There was no significant (P>0.05) genotype effect on any of the metric traits under consideration.  It is demonstrated in this study that the incidence of spur gene (sl) seems to be sex-influenced, higher than expected but had no effect on the six metric traits considered.

Two Hundred and six day old Fulani Ecotype chicks (FEC)were used to investigate the effect of feeding two types of diet (Chick starter diet and Broiler starter diet formulated to meet standard nutritional requirement of pullets and broiler chicks) on growth traits and performance from O to 8 weeks. The broiler starter diet contained 23% Crude Protein (CP) and 3000Kcal/kg Metabolizable Energy (ME), and the Chick starter diet contained 21% CP and 2800Kcal/Kg ME. The growth traits measured were body weight (BW), body length (BL), body girth (BG), wing length (WL), thigh length (TL), drumstick length (DL), keel length (KL), and shank length (SL), while chicks performance were estimated from feed intake. feed efficiency, growth rate and weight gain. Average body weight of chicks fed broiler starter diet were significantly (P<0.05) higher from week 1 to 8. Chicks fed broiler starter diet exhibited numerically higher BL, BG, WL, TL, DL and KL than those fed chick starter diet at all ages and differences were significant (P<0.05) at some ages. Chicks fed broiler starter diet significantly (P<0.05) consumed more feed at week 1 and 2, and they gained more weight than those fed chick starter diet from 0 to 4 weeks (120.51 vs. 97.89g), and 5-8 weeks (255.11 vs. 239.13g). Feed efficiency in chicks fed broiler starter diet was relatively higher by 13.21% than observed in those fed chick starter diet from day old to 4 weeks and this translated to faster growth rate during the period in the former group (34.30% Vs.32.67%). This Study shows that the broiler starter diet produced superior growth traits and better feed efficiency in Fulani Ecotype chicks.