Confinement Lowers Fertility Rate of Helmeted Guinea Fowl (Numida meleagris) Eggs
Date
2014Author
Kimata, Dennis M.
Mwangi, Richard W.
Mathiu, Peter M.
Language
enMetadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Guinea fowl is a common game bird in Africa and there have been efforts to domesticate it for use as a source of human food. An important obstacle in successful domestication of guinea fowl is their low fertility rate. We studied the effects of semi-confinement on the fertility rates of helmeted guinea fowl by comparing egg fertility, hatch rate and keet survival rates in a wild (WL) and a semi-confined (SC) group. We undertook the study in Eastern Kenya for a period of 16 months that represented three breeding cycles. There was no significant difference (P > 0.05) in egg fertility rates between egg laying cycles in the SC group. However, the egg fertility rate of the WL group was significantly higher (P < 0.05) than that of the SC group. There were no significant differences in the hatch rate of eggs (P > 0.05) or the keet survival rates between the WL and SC groups. These results clearly show that low egg fertility rate is a key limiting factor in the reproductive success of helmeted guinea fowl kept in semi-confined spaces
Citation
Kimata, D. M., Mwangi, R. W., & Mathiu, P. M. (2014). Confinement lowers fertility rate of helmeted guinea fowl (Numida meleagris) eggs: short communication. African Zoology, 49(1), 153-156.Publisher
University of Nairobi