Korean Journal of Agricultural Science ISSN:2466-2402(Print) 2466-2410(Online) 농업과학연구

This study was conducted to investigate the laying performance of six strains of Korean domestic chickens (KDC 1A, 2A, 3A, 1B, 2B and 3B). A total of 288 20-week-old KDC hens were allocated in a completely randomized design to give 12 replicates per each strain (4 chickens per pen). The chickens were fed commercial diets (i.e., week 20 - 32, crude protein [CP] 18.0% and metabolizable energy [ME] 2,850 kcal/kg; week 32 - 40, CP 17.0% and ME 2,800 kcal/kg) ad libitum together with fresh water during the 20-week experiment. Body weight, age of sexual maturity, egg weight, hen-day egg production (HDP) and feed conversion ratio (FCR) were measured during the experiment period (week 20 - 40). Our results show that strain 3B had an improved (p < 0.05) HDP and FCR compared with the other strains on week 24 - 28. However, strain 3A had an improved (p < 0.05) HDP and FCR compared to the other strains on week 28 - 40. Similarly, strain 3A had a higher egg weight (p < 0.05) compared to the other strains on week 28, 32 and 40. In conclusion, the higher laying performance of strain 3A indicates its potential in the development of a KDC strain with improved commercial laying performance.