Traditional rural guinea fowl producers have indigenous knowledge on maintaining fertility and sex ratios through weight, shape and texture of the egg

1. Can shape of egg and texture determine sex and fertility in Guinea fowl
(Numida meleagris)
Yakubu Abukari
The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway
Crawley, WA 6009, Australia
Email: yakubuabukari@ymail.com
Guinea fowl is native to Africa
Guinea fowl importance
 socio- economic
 cultural
 food security
 Common household bird
Challenge: Early sex determination and
infertility a major problem to farmers
120 rural farmers were randomly
surveyed to elicit techniques on sexing
and fertility maintenance
35
30
75
65
S H A P E T E X T U R E
RESPONSE TO USE OF EGG
CHARACTERISTICS TO DETERMINE SEX
frequency percentage
The sex ratios 1:3 and 1:4 (male to
female ) recording 67.5% and 42.2% was
used to maintain fertility in stock
 The shape and texture of eggs help
rural farmers to pre-determine sex
 The sex ratio of 1:3 and 1:4 are used to
maintain fertility in stock
Introduction
Conclusion
Yakubu ,A.(2003) : Indigenous knowledge on fertility in guinea fowl. Unpublished.
Source of pictures :www.guineafowl.com/gallery
http://www.poultryhub.org/species/game-birds/guinea-fowl/
Results
Heavier(40g) , pointed and rough
surface egg shell hatch into male
Heavy(35g), less pointed , smooth
surface egg shell hatch into female
Guinea
coast