Variability of Carcass Traits of Local Poultry Populations of Gallus gallus Species of Benin

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The “cock” operation carried out in Benin in 1963 and that consist to introduce exotic roosters bred in the village poultry farms to improve growth and reproductive performances of  local chicken populations by crossing had not been accepted by Holli, Sahoue and Fulani sociocultural groups (Tougan et al., 2013). Today, this operation creates genetic erosion within the local poultry population of the others sociocultural groups who were agree. However, the reluctance of populations of Holli, Sahoue and Fulani sociocultural groups had promoted conservation and perpetuation of varieties or breed of chickens owned by these sociocultural groups, which bear now their name. Then, the socio-cultural groups Holli, Sahoue and Fulani are respectively the undisputed holders of Holli, Sahouè and Fulani chickens. The local population of poultry of the species Gallus gallus of Benin is then composed of various ecotypes among which are North, South, Holli, Fulani and Sahoue ecotypes (Tougan et al., 2013).

The local poultry population of Benin is then composed of various ecotypes including chickens Holli, Sahoue, Fulani, North and South. To better characterize them, the study aimed to assess their carcass traits by genetic type, breeding system and slaughter age. Thus, 260 chickens of which 52 chickens of each ecotype were divided in two lots and reared respectively under traditional and improved breeding system. For each breeding system, 26 cockerels of each ecotype were slaughtered at 20, 24 and 28 weeks old for carcass traits study. The results shows that the live weight, carcass weight the weight of the cuts of thigh-drumsticks and wings of Holli chickens were the highest (P <0.001). The lowest live weight, and carcass weight were noted in South ecotype (P <0.001). The carcass yields of the five genetic types of chicken were similar (P >0.05). The breast weight of Holli and Fulani were similar (P> 0.05) but heavier (P <0.001) than the one of Sahoue, North and South ecotypes. The live weight and carcass weight of chickens reared under improved breeding system were higher than those of traditional system (P <0.01). The carcass drip loss was more important in chickens bred under traditional system (P <0.001). The live weight and carcass cuts value were significantly affected by slaughter age (P<0.001). The best carcass yields were recorded at 24 weeks (P <0.001). Therefore, the ideal slaughter age of indigenous chickens of Benin is 24 weeks.