Effects of varied seasons on productive performances of bovans brown and koekoek chicken breeds in South Wello Zone, Ethiopia

This study was conducted to assess the effect of season (cold, hot and main rainy seasons) on the performances in Bovans Brown (BB) and Koekoek (Kk) chickens. The result revealed that effect of breed on feed intake per bird per day (gm) (FIg/b/d) was significant (P<0.05) and more pronounced in BB, the effect on average daily gain (gm) (ADG), feed conversion ratio (FCR) and mortality was also significant (P<0.05) but more pronounced in the Kk breed. Among the seasons ADG and RT was significantly (P<0.05) higher, and FCR was significantly (P<0.05) better during the hot season (HSe).  There was a significant (P<0.05) breed by season interaction for FIg/b/d, ADG, FCR, RT and mortality. In all the seasons BB breed had higher FIg/b/d and in the main rainy season the Kk breed had higher ADG and mortality and better FCR. Further, Kk breed had higher RT in the HSe. In conclusion, koekoek breed was better performed when reared to three months of age which can be expressed in terms of ADG and FCR, but the higher mortality affected the survival rate of this breed that was associated with the poor quality of the chicks especially during the MRS and this in turn influenced the feed consumption of the breed.