Tien Yen; indigenous chicken; morphological characteristics; growth performance; carcass yield
Abstract :
[en] This study was conducted to determine morphological characteristics, growth performance, carcass yield and meat quality of purebred Tien Yen chicken raised at the experimental farm of Vietnam National University of Agriculture, and at household farms in Tien Yen district Quang Ninh province. A total of 114 individuals was were morphologically characterized. Growth performances were assessed on 55 chickens, and carcass yield was evaluated on 6 individuals for each period. The results showed that, at 1-old-day, chicks had 2 main feather colors including yellow with black stripes (90%) and yellow (10%); At 38 weeks old, cocks’ body feather color was characterized by black bronze (71.8%) and bronze brown (28.2%), while the hens were characterized by bright yellow 80% and dark brown 20%. Chickens had a chin’s feather (beard) 90% or a typical head’s feather 10%. The survival rate was high 94.6% and the males had significantly heavier body weight compared with the females during from 3 weeks old (P <0.05). At 16 weeks old, the average body weight of males and females was 1685g and 1372 g respectively. The feed conversion efficiency was 3.8 kg feed/kg weight gain during 0-16 weeks old. The relative percentage of carcasses was 61-64%, percentage of breast meat and thigh meat were 13.2-17.2% and 19.6-23.1% respectively. Drip loss percentage of preservation and cooking for 24 hours post-mortem were 2.6-3.2% and 22.6-24.9%, respectively, and its meat quality was within the normal range of value.