Live weight change examinations of indigenous speckled hens on a farm in Hódmezővásárhely

Abstract

The aboriginal species are not compatible with the modern ones in general and cannot keep up with the industrylike economical production. For this reason we have to endeavour to preserve our old indigenous species and to keep their important characteristics that can be utilized for breeding later on. One of the criteria of the gene preservation of our aboriginal species is to keep in an unaltered form with minimal gene loss preserving their original variability. In the Pilot Farm of the University of Szeged Faculty of Agriculture we have been dealing with the genetic preservation of two breeds of the aboriginal speckled Hungarian hens – the Speckled Hungarian Hen and the Speckled Transylvanian Naked Neck Hen since 1977. We examined the quality parameters of the two species of speckled hens looking for answer to the questions whether it was possible to preserve the live weights after twenty generations, whether the original variability is preserved and whether we carried out successful gene preservation activity during the gene preservation work.