Egg production performance of three strains of laying hens kept in floor pens

Abstract Genetic limitation is one of the major bottle necks for the development of the poultry production and the expansion of the commercial poultry production is limited by inadequate supply of high performing chicken breeds locally in Ethiopia. Research system is currently attempting to alleviate this problem by introducing improved poultry breeds that can adapt and perform in Ethiopia. This experiment was carried out to study the on station egg production performance of Lohman Brown, Novo Brown and Dominant Sussex breeds under the objective condition of Jimma. One hundred fifty of each of Dominant Sussex, Lohman Brown and Novo Brown breed of layers obtained from Debre Zeit Research Station was placed at Jucavm layer house on standard commercial layers’ ration in completely randomized design with three replicates. Finally, all the data collected on performance of the experimental breeds of chickens were subjected to statistical analysis. There was no significant difference (P<0.05) between the three breeds tested in age at the first egg, even if Lohman Brown tended to lay comparatively earlier (137 days). The hen day egg production rate and egg weight of Dominant Sussex was better than other two breeds. In summary, the results of this experiment indicated that the three breed of chicken have well performed (except the adaptive potential of Dominant Sussex chickens) under Jimma condition in most of the economically important production traits studied. However, comparative evaluation of the egg quality and reproductive performance of the three breeds seems to be the future direction of research under objective condition of Jimma.