Acta Veterinaria et Zootechnica Sinica ›› 2024, Vol. 55 ›› Issue (4): 1521-1535.doi: 10.11843/j.issn.0366-6964.2024.04.017

• ANIMAL GENETICS AND BREEDING • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Comparative Analysis of Growth, Carcass and Meat Quality Traits of Five Hybrid Combinations of Houdan Chicken

LEI Yanru1, HU Xiaoyu1, XU Chunhong1, ZHANG Chenxi1, DU Wenping1, WANG Yangguang1, LI Donghua1,2, SUN Guirong1,2, LI Wenting1,2*, KANG Xiangtao1,2*   

  1. 1. College of Animal Science and Technology, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou 450046, China;
    2. The Shennong Laboratory, Zhengzhou 450002, China
  • Received:2023-09-11 Online:2024-04-23 Published:2024-04-26

Abstract: The aim of this study was to screen out the most suitable hybrid combination of Houdan that exhibits good growth performance, excellent slaughtering performance and high meat quality, further to provide a scientific basis for the breed improvement of Houdan chicken. In this study, 20-week-old healthy Houdan chicken with similar body weights were selected as the female parents, while Yunong D line (D), Yunong L line (L), Yunong SHj line (SHj), Yunong C line (C), and Yunong H line (H) raised at poultry germplasm resource farm of henan agricultural university were used as the male parent for the crossbreeding test, and the hybrid offspring were named as D×HD, L×HD, SHj×HD, C×HD, and H×HD, respectively. The 50 healthy chickens were selected from each combination according to sex and reared until 12 weeks of age. Body weights were measured every two weeks. Three growth curve models, including Logistic, Gompertz and Von Bertallanffy, were employed to fit their body weights. A total of 6 males and 6 females at 12 weeks were randomly selected from each combination for slaughter. Their growth performance, slaughter performance, and meat quality were measured, and the data were then subjected to biostatistical analysis. The optimal model for growth traits is Gompertz with the fitness greater than 0.998. In terms of growth performance, the C×HD combination had significantly higher average body weight and body size than other combinations (P < 0.05), the highest feed consumption for hens being 2.59, and the SHj×HD combination of roosters had the highest feed consumption with 2.39. According to slaughtering performance, all combinations except for the hens in the L×HD and H×HD combinations, achieved more than 70% of semi-eviscerated rate and more than 60% of eviscerated rate. In terms of meat quality, the D×HD combination showed better meat quality than the other combinations, but there was no significant difference in drip loss among the combinations. Taken together, the C×HD combination exhibited excellent performance in growth, carcass, and meat quality traits, and it can meet consumers′ demand to some extent. Moreover, the research provided an important reference for the conservation, genetic improvement of Houdan chicken and strongly supported the efficient breeding and promotion of Houdan chicken.

Key words: hybrid combination, Houdan chicken, growth traits, carcass traits, meat quality traits

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