Sexual dimorphism on body weight and some conformation traits of Ross 308 broiler chickens using Principal Component Analysis

Abstract

The use of principal component analysis (PCA) is a occurrence in analysis of relationship between scores of variables in domestic animals and could assist in selection and breeding programme of such animals. The study adopted the PCA in describing the growth traits of male and female Ross 308 broiler chickens. A total of 100 males and 100 females Ross 308 broiler chickens were used for the study. Traits measured were body weight (BW), body length (BL), keel length (KL), thigh length (TL) and wing length (WL). The descriptive statistics indicated that the average BW (2161.68g), BL (22.22cm), KL (16.53cm), TL (16.52cm), WL (21.10cm) and SL (18.32cm) were obtained for males Ross 308 broiler chicken while BW (2059.22g), BL (21.56cm), KL (15.99cm), TL (16.27cm), WL (20.83cm) and SL (17.89cm) were obtained for females Ross 308 broiler chicken. The correlation coefficient observed varied from r=0.78 to r=0.97 and r=0.78 to r=0.95 for male and female Ross 308 broiler chickens respectively were positive and highly significant (P<0.01). The PCA results revealed that three principal components were extracted for the broiler chicken explaining 98.64% and 97.63% of the total variation in the original variable for both male and female Ross 308 broiler chicken respectively while PC1 of both chickens accounted for 92.905% and 91.04% respectively. However, Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) values of 0.912 and 0.875 for male and female chickens respectively were termed to be Marvelous and Meritorious with Bartlett’s test of 2418.795g at determinants 0.88E for both male and female Ross 308 broiler chicken. These components could be a template for selection criteria growth traits in male and female broiler chickens.