Nutritional and reproductive performance of local layer system in Vietnam

Abstract

To develop local breeds, the first action should be to investigate how the breeds have been raised and grown. The study aimed to determine nutritional practice and reproduction characteristics of Noi chickens in Ben Tre Province. A total of 90 respondents were involved with this study by a purposive sampling method. The data were collected by in-depth interview. A descriptive analysis was used for this study. The results showed that male farmers were dominant, being more than 25 years old, and labour was mostly from family member. Noi chickens were raised for laying purpose and usually integrating with other livestock at the farm. As traditional farms, farmers raised Noi chickens under semi and free-range farming system with water and feed from natural resources and still using hens to hatch eggs and produced chickens. Noi laying performance was not high and most farms did not record information of laying performance. Besides, Noi chickens have first laying egg at 22 weeks with an average of 1-2 egg per week and 2-4 cycle laying per year. The common feed was commercial feed, and farmers always mixed with other agriculture products and by-products. The nutritional value of feed was insufficient for layer production and depending on the seasons and locality with the highest crude protein 11.8 and the lowest was 4.3. It can be concluded that farmers still practice traditional method in raising Noi chickens and laying performance of Noi chicken were not high on farmer’s farm.