Effects of Sexual Dimorphism on Phenotypic Traits of Anak ® Broiler Birds in the Cool Tropical Climate of Jos, Nigeria

Evaluation of sexual dimorphism is one of the important sources of information in the development of strategies to manage Anak broiler breeds in the cool tropical climate of Jos, Plateau State. While descriptive statistics and correlation analysis are utilized extensively, the use of principal component analysis (PCA) for this type of data analyses is unexplored. PCA was use to map the variations in male and female Anak® broiler birds. Data utilized for this study were obtained from male and female Anak broiler birds reared at National Veterinary Research Institute, Vom, Plateau State. Body weights showed sexual dimorphisms from six weeks through eight weeks and the males recorded significantly (P < .05) higher body weights than females. Our results showed that bodyweight is positive and strongly correlated to biometric in Anak® male and female broiler birds. Female birds showed higher response (97.38%) in variance than the male birds (93.5%) with two components extracted. Results of this study suggest that sexual dimorphism existed in biometric traits and decisions on the management of Anak® broiler birds should be handled separately.