This project started in 2008 and aimed to produce a synthetic line of chickens under hot climate conditions in Egypt and Arab countries. The project was financed by Benha University, Egypt. The new produced synthetic line was named Line Benha (Line B). It was founded in 2011 as a synthetic line between the Egyptian Golden Montazah (50%) and the White Leghorn (50 %). The procedure of foundation began with mating Golden Montazah cocks with White Leghorn hens and was followed by three generations of “intense” mating. The line has been recognized for its production and quality according to the predicted breeding values based on the BLUP procedure using animal model. A description of the main features of the Line B chickens was carried out and the phenotypic and productive characters were recorded. The feather colour of the adult chickens was mostly White (70%). The line shows good adaptation to hot climate conditions (15-35oC). It has high resistance to Pasteurellosis and Salmonella diseases, high fertility (93%) and hatchability (86%), low mortality rate (1%) during the production period. It shows moderate body weight at sexual maturity (1742g) and age at sexual maturity was 159.6 d. The annual production was 230 eggs with a moderate egg weight (55g). Eggs are white with a shape index of 79.1%. It shows high Haugh units (93.8 %) and the live body weight was 1970g and 1269g for males and females respectively. The carcass weight was 1273g for cocks with moderate dressing percentage (65%). The new synthesized B Line has shown high productive traits under hot climate conditions in Egypt. |
