PRODUCTIVE AND REPRODUCTIVE PERFORMANCE CHARACTERIZATION OF PHENOTYPES IN EGYPTIAN GEESE (ANSER ANSER)

Abdel-Kafy, ELSAYED Mahfouz; El-shhat, Abdel-ghany; Ibraheim, Samya E.; Ahmed, Mahmoud A.M.; Ghonim, Aymen Ibrahim

doi:10.21608/epsj.2023.291728

PRODUCTIVE AND REPRODUCTIVE PERFORMANCE CHARACTERIZATION OF PHENOTYPES IN EGYPTIAN GEESE (ANSER ANSER)

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

¹ Animal Production Research Institute (APRI)

² Animal Production Research Institute

³ Animal Production Research Institute, Agricultural Research Center, Dokki, Giza 12651, Egypt

⁴ Animal production research institute

10.21608/epsj.2023.291728

Abstract

Studying the phenotypic characteristics for Egyptian geese resulted to them having three phenotypes, Fayoumy, Saiddy, and Behary, which were reared in the Med, Upper, and Delta regions of Egypt, respectively. The goal of this study is to describe the production and reproduction characteristics of three Egyptian geese (Anser anser) in order to shed light on the economic aspects for defining strategic goals to preserve the required variety and long-term usage. Also, characterization the production and reproduction features may be part to answer to a question about probability the Egyptian Geese is one population or more. Each phenotype of the bird was housed separately. Fayoumy, Saiddy, and Behary phenotypes were used to evaluate egg quality, fertility, hatching, and growth performance. There is no significant difference (P < 0.05) between phenotypes in daily feed intake, daily body growth, and feed conversions. The greatest value in body weights in adult females was in the Fayoumy phenotype. The Behary phenotype had the lowest fertility and hatching rates. The Fayoumy phenotype was having the highest values in Egg weight and gosling weight at hatching. The present study characterized the production and reproduction features that showed slightly different among the phenotypes. We may infer that both the Fayoumy and Behary phenotypes have relatively a high daily feed intake and daily body gain. The Saiddy phenotype may be especially appealing in its fertility and hatching rates. More research on performance characterization in Egyptian geese phenotypes is required to evaluate their economic performance.

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