EFFECT OF EJACULATION FREQUENCY AND MANAGEMENT CONDITIONS ON SEMEN QUALITY, FERTILITY AND HATCHABILITY OF LOCAL TURKEYS IN THE HUMID TROPICS

📄 Project Abstract

Food insecurity which is felt in most developing nations including Nigeria over the years has accentuated the already critical animal protein deficiency among human populations. High cost of livestock and poultry has limited the capacity of an average Nigerian to consume adequate quantity and quality of animal protein (Hamzat et al., 2003). Emeruwah (1999), and Ojewola, et al. (2004) prescribed massive production of animals with short reproduction cycles such as pigs, rabbits and poultry as the only remedy to the acute animal protein shortage in Nigeria. This however, has undoubtedly spurred research efforts in the direction of these animals that offer the highest turn-over rate and the quickest return on investment. Obviously, rabbit meat is not popular in Nigeria and its commercialization is limited by unknown factors. Pigs on the other hand suffer religious alienation. Thus, poultry has been the animal of choice (Sanni and Ogundipe, 2003). Although, production of local chicken is ev...