Three hundred eggs were obtained from settlements around New Bussa, Niger state during the month of August 2006 and transported to Ekiti state by road. 93.33 % of the three hundred (300) eggs collected were selected for hatching. The eggs were hatched at the aviary unitof Ekiti state Agricultural Development Project, Ikole Ekiti, Nigeria. At hatching the keets were separated on the basis of their plumage colours as shown by the distinct difference in the colour of the downy feathers of the keets into three genotypes, pearl, ash and black. The keets of each genotype were randomly allocated to brooder rooms where they were floor brooded using kerosene stove. The keets were fed with diet containing 24% CP, 3000 kcal/kg ME and water ad libitum for the first 8 weeks at the brooder house and fed diets containing 18 % CP, 2850 kcal/kg ME and water ad libitum for the last phase of the experiment. Measurements were taken every fourteen (14) days on body weight and body linear measurements on shank length, drumstick length, keel length, body girth, body length and wing length. The results showed that the birds demonstrated low body weights and small body size in all the parameters examined.

The practice of complementary and alternative medicine is now on the increase in developing countries in response to World Health Organization's directives. This has culminated in several pre-clinical and clinical studies that have provided the scientific basis for the efficacy of many plants used in folk medicine to improve growth performance in farm animals and treat infections. This study was carried out to investigate the chemical, mineral and phytochemical contents of garlic as a preliminary work to evaluate the influence of garlic on the performance characteristics of broiler chickens. Garlic bulbs (Allium sativum), including cloves and hulls, were obtained from the open market at Ado-Ekiti-Nigeria. The garlic bulbs were desegmented into cloves and were cut into chips. The chips were sun-dried for 3 weeks. The dried garlic chips were milled and analysed for the chemical compositions. The results obtained indicated that garlic on dry matter basis contained 4.55 mg/100g, 73.22 mg/100g and 15.33 mg/100g of moisture, carbohydrate and crude protein respectively. The crude fat was 0.72 mg/100g while crude fibre and ash were 2.10 mg/100g and 4.08 mg/100g, respectively. Garlic contained 10.19, 26.30, 10.19, 5.29, 0.001, 0.34 and 0.001 mg/100g of potassium, calcium, phosphorus, iron, magnesium, zinc and manganese respectively while lead and cobalt were below detection level. Garlic is acidic (pH = 3.91) and contained 4.21, 3.54, 0.64, 0.80, 5.56, 0.04 and 0.02 mg/100g of alkaloids, tannins, carotenoids, saponin, flavonoids, steroids and cardenolides, respectively. Garlic as a feed additive possesses nutritional properties for use in the enhancement of improved livestock production.

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The study was conducted using 800 adult local chickens comprising 355 males and 445 females, which were obtained from 2 major markets in Ado Ekiti, the capital city of Ekiti state, Nigeria. Convenience sampling technique was employed in selecting animals for observation. The birds were individually observed for phenotypic expression of shank colour, feather morphology, feather structure, polydactyly, ptylopody and comb types. The number in each group was expressed as a percentage of the total number of birds. The body size parameters measured include body weight, body girth, body length, shank length, wing length, toe length, keel length and shank diameter. The result revealed that the phenotypic frequencies of birds with dominant genes for feather morphology (FF, Ff), feather structure (NaNa + Nana), poly dactyl (PoPo + Popo) and ptylopods (FshFsh + Fshfsh) were 0.033, 0.037, 0.042 and 0.046 respectively, while that of the recessive gene carriers were 0.967, 0.963, 0.958 and 0.954 respectively. The calculated gene frequencies for frizzled (F), Naked neck (Na), Polydactyly (Po) and ptylopods (Fsh) were 0.035, 0.024, 0.034 and 0.035 respectively. The local chicken showed different plumage coloration with black, brown and pink predominating. The male birds were superior to their female counterparts with significant differences (P<0.05) in all the parameters measured except weight.

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