Journal of Animal and Plant Sciences
J. Anim. Plant Sci. [ISSN 2071 - 7024]
Volume 16(2): 2336 - 2342. Published December, 2012.

Effectiveness of a sexing technique on free-range day-old chick

Hervé Brice Dakpogan^a*, Sahidou Salifou^a, André Aboh^b , Christophe Chrysostome^c

^aApplied Biology Research Laboratory of Polytechnic School of Abomey-Calavi P.O.BOX 2009, University of Abomey-calavi, Benin
^bAgricultural Research Center of Agonkanmmey, National Agricultural Research Institute of Benin, 01 P.O. BOX 988 Abomey-Calavi
^cPoultry Research Laboratory and Zoo-Economy of Faculty of Agronomic Sciences 01 P.O.BOX 526, University of Abomey-calavi, Benin

*Author present address: H. B. Dakpogan, Applied Biology Research Laboratory of Polytechnic School of Abomey-Calavi P.O.BOX 2009, University of Abomey-calavi, Benin, Tel: 00229 94 62 58 36. E-mail: dakpogan2002@yahoo.fr

SUMMARY

The comparison of the length of chick Primary wing feathers (PF) and Secondary (SF) wing feathers was used to sex 228 free-range day-old chicks of diverse phenotypes (Normal, Silky and Frizzled feathered), prior to an experimental study. The sex score = 1, When the secondary feathers were longer than the primary feathers. When the two categories of wing feathers were equal in length, the score = 2 and finally, when the secondary feathers are shorter than the primary feathers the sex score = 3. The results showed that 91.30%, 73.3%, 18.1% of the chicks were male, while 8.7%, 26.6%, 81.8% were female in sex score 1, 2 and 3 respectively. The relative risk of determining male chick in sex score 1 versus score 3 was 50.9 ± 31.9. It was 13.7 ± 9.41 in score 2 versus score 3. The sex determination revealed that the chick is male in score 1 and 2 and female in score 3, giving an overall precision rate of 82.1%. Unlike chick phenotype, body weight was significantly affected by the sex (P < 0.05), male chick (28.1 ± 0.5) being heavier than female (25.7 ± 0.4). Indeed, the wing primary and secondary feathers comparative lengths were already sexually dimorphic just after hatching, and must be under the control of the synergistic action of both the somatic sex of the feather cells and the gonad released hormones.

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