An Assessment of Fertility and Hatchability of Bhutanese Indigenous Chickens using Natural Service and Artificial Insemination

Abstract

This study compared fertility and hatchability rates of three different Bhutanese native chicken strains (Seim, Belochem and Yuebjha Narp) using the artificial insemination (AI) and natural mating (NM). Ten hens from each strain were paired with two roosters of the same strain in the natural mating group, while ten hens from each strain were artificially inseminated using freshly prepared diluted semen collected from six roosters of the same strain. A total of 228 eggs (AI =111, NM =117) were incubated for 21 days. The eggs from the AI hens showed a lower fertility rate (44.78%) compared to those eggs from NM hens (75.52%) (t (10) = -3.19, p=.01). Within the NM group, NM Seim had the highest fertility rate (89.68%) while NM Yuebjha Narp had the lowest (54.78%). Similarly, in AI group, AI Seim showed the highest fertility (52.78%) while AI Yuebjha Narp showed the lowest (35.75%). Likewise, eggs incubated from AI hens (74.15%) showed a slightly lower hatchability rate compared to NM hens (82.39%), but was not significant (p>.05). Moreover, there were no differences in egg weight, egg shape index, embryonic mortality and day-old chick weight between AI and NM chickens (p>.05). While overall differences exist in fertility rates between AI and NM method, strain-specific variations suggest the need for further in-depth investigations on fertility