Effect of age and sex on carcass characteristics and internal organ weights of scavenging chickens and helmeted guinea fowls

Abstract

The objective of the study was to determine the effect of age and sex on carcass characteristics and internal organ weights in scavenging guinea fowls and chickens. Ninety-six scavenging birds, purchased from farmers, were used comprising 48 guinea fowls and 48 chickens from communal farmers. Guinea fowls comprised 25 females and 23 males, with 21 growers and 27 adults. Chickens had 18 females and 30 males with 19 growers and 29 adults. Guinea fowls had heavier body weight and relative hot carcass and cold dressed weight than chickens and which increased with age. Breast and wing relative weights were higher in guinea fowls. Chickens recorded the higher weight of leg and drumstick than guinea fowls. The neck, feet and head weights were heavier in chickens except for the back which was similar to guinea fowls. Chickens had significantly higher abdominal fat than guinea fowls. Relative weights of the heart, liver, kidney, lung and gizzard were higher in chickens. Relative total intestinal weight and lengths of total intestines, small and large intestines were higher in chickens than in guinea fowls. Relative lengths of the intestines decreased with age. Chickens and guinea fowls could have different capacities to utilize scavengeable feed resources.

The Influence of Sex on the Slaughter Parameters and Selected Blood Indices of Greenleg Partridge, Polish Native Breed of Hens

“…Similar conclusions were also obtained by Tasoniero et al [ 31 ], who demonstrated the important role of sex in heart weight formation in two Italian local breeds. Interestingly, these observations do not correspond to those reported by Musundire et al [ 32 ], who did not demonstrate a significant influence of bird sex on heart size.…”

Multivariate Characterization of Morpho-biometric Traits of Indigenous Helmeted Guinea Fowl (Numida meleagris) in Nigeria

“…Univariate analyses revealed significant differences among zones for most zoometric traits and calculated body indices, suggesting the possible influence of these zones on the evolutionary adaptation of the sheep population in terms of these. They are however, higher than the range 1.08-1.33 kg reported for adult guinea fowl (Numida meleagris) in a humid zone of southern Nigeria [60] and 1.275 kg obtained in Zimbabwe [61]. However, the indigenous birds are smaller in size when compared to their exotic counterparts.…”

“…They are however, higher than the range 1.08-1.33 kg reported for adult guinea fowl (Numida meleagris) in a humid zone of southern Nigeria [60] and 1.275 kg obtained in Zimbabwe [61]. However, the indigenous birds are smaller in size when compared to their exotic counterparts.…”

Comportamiento productivo y composición de la canal de la gallina de Guinea (Numida meleagris)

“…La crianza de N. meleagris tiene ventajas considerables; por ejemplo, las aves se adaptan a diversas condiciones agroclimáticas, consumen una gran variedad de alimentos no convencionales, tienen la capacidad de protegerse ante depredadores, controlan las garrapatas y otras plagas, son tolerantes a la mayoría de las enfermedades comunes de las aves de corral y no se requiere demasiada mano de obra e infraestructura costosa para su manejo (Ebegbulem, 2018;Koné et al, 2018;Musundire et al, 2018). Productivamente, la gallina de Guinea también presenta buena ganancia de peso, conversión alimenticia (Houndonougbo et al, 2017;Eleroğlu et al, 2018) y rendimiento de la canal (Mareko et al, 2006;Chiroque et al, 2018), aun cuando es comparado con el rendimiento de la canal del pollo (Musundire et al, 2018).…”

“…La crianza de N. meleagris tiene ventajas considerables; por ejemplo, las aves se adaptan a diversas condiciones agroclimáticas, consumen una gran variedad de alimentos no convencionales, tienen la capacidad de protegerse ante depredadores, controlan las garrapatas y otras plagas, son tolerantes a la mayoría de las enfermedades comunes de las aves de corral y no se requiere demasiada mano de obra e infraestructura costosa para su manejo (Ebegbulem, 2018;Koné et al, 2018;Musundire et al, 2018). Productivamente, la gallina de Guinea también presenta buena ganancia de peso, conversión alimenticia (Houndonougbo et al, 2017;Eleroğlu et al, 2018) y rendimiento de la canal (Mareko et al, 2006;Chiroque et al, 2018), aun cuando es comparado con el rendimiento de la canal del pollo (Musundire et al, 2018). Otra cualidad relevante de esta ave es la calidad nutricional de su carne, ya que se ha determinado el alto contenido de minerales y ácidos grasos esenciales (Bernacki et al, 2012), además de su alto contenido proteico y bajo contenido de grasa (Hoffman y Tihong, 2012), características que mejoran cuando las aves son criadas de manera semi-intensiva o "al aire libre" (Sarica et al, 2019).…”