THE INFLUENCE OF GENE RECOMBINATION ON FERTILITY AND HATCHABILITY OF FOUR SPECIES OF TORTOISE

Abstract

Tortoise is characterized by ecological habitats and species distribution genes directly affected productive performance. These are classified species as Marginata (Po), Serrated hinged terrapin (Ps), West African mud (Pc), and Pancake (Pa) study aimed to compare fertility and hatchability among these tortoise species. A total of four (4) sires and forty (40) dams’ genetic group were used in this study which was conducted over one year involving both direct and reciprocal crosses. A total number of 62 eggs out of 103 eggs laid were set. Similarly, number of eggs hatched, percentage fertility and hatchability were significantly (p<0.01) affected by both sire and dam species. Percentage fertility were 90.91, 90.00, 88.89 and 86.96 among the Marginata, Pancake, Serrated Hinged Terrapin and West African Mud sired tortoise respectively, value percentage hatchability was 88.96, 87.50, 85.00 and 80.00 respectively. There was also significant (p<0.05) interaction effect between dam and sire species on fertility and hatchability percentages. Marginata sire group produced the highest number of fertile eggs, followed by the Pancake group. The West African Mud (Pc) sire group produced the least fertile eggs. The overall mating between purebred tortoises produced high percentage fertility 88.71 and 87.29 percent hatchability. Hatchability was higher where Pancake and Marginata tortoises were used as dam compared to where they were used as sires. However, the reverse was the case with West African Mud tortoise species. It could therefore be concluded that genes for strain types significantly affects fertility and hatchability among the tortoise species and the marginata genetic group was generally superior to the other groups.