Dahloum, L.Yakubu, AbdulmojeebHalbouche, M.2023-12-112023-12-112018-08-12Yakubu, A et al. (2018), Effects of housing system and plumage colour on egg quality characteristics of indigenous naked-neck chickens.https://keffi.nsuk.edu.ng/handle/20.500.14448/2849The aim of the present study was to examine some egg characteristics of Naked neck indigenous layers (NNL) with different plumage colours (White layers, WL; Black layers, BL and Brown layers, BrL) kept in two different housing systems (conventional cages vs deep litter). The birds were randomly allocated in a 2 (Housing system) x 3 (Genotype) factorial arrangement. In total, 592 fresh eggs from 150 adult NNL (ranging from 32 and 35 weeks old) were analyzed for both internal and external egg characteristics using the General Linear Model (GLM) procedure. There were pronounced effects of both housing system and feather colour on egg weight, egg shape index, albumen weight, albumen height, haugh units, yolk weight and yolk index. Housing system by plumage colour analysis of variance revealed great interactions on egg weight, yolk weight, yolk index and on all albumen quality traits studied. The heaviest eggs [56.9±0.44 and 58.5±0.53 (g), respectively] were laid by BrL in both housing systems. BrL and WL raised on litter system tended to deposit markedly more albumen compared to their caged counterparts. There was also positive effect of litter system on WL in terms of yolk production (+1.16g). The present results provide useful information on the performance of Naked neck layers which can be exploited favourably to boost poultry production under hot environmental conditions.enArticle