Abstract
Live body weight (LBVV) and carcass traits are the most important factors in the poultry industry to evaluate broiler crosses. The current study was conducted to compare 3 crosses of broiler male line males (Cobb, Arbor Acers, and Hubbard) with Bandarah chicken as a local Egyptian breed on their productive and immune performance of the crosses at 5 weeks. A total of 900 sexed birds from the 3 broiler crosses were raised to study LBW from hatch until 5 weeks of age (LBW5) and carcass traits at 5 weeks of age. Also, Immune responses were analyzed for each cross at 4 and 5 weeks of age. Results indicated that the CB cross had higher carcass, breast muscles, and leg muscles percentages compared to the AB and HB crosses. Also, the CB cross had lower heart, gizzard, liver, spleen, and thymus percentages compared to the AB and HB crosses. However, the HB cross had higher antibody response against Newcastle Disease virus (NDV) than other crosses at 4 and 5 weeks of age. There were significant genotypes by sex interactions on growth and carcass traits between different crosses at different ages. Males and females from the CB cross had the highest LBW5 and relative values of the carcass parts compared to AB and HB crosses. It was concluded that, it was difficult to choose between the 3 broiler crosses. However, the CB cross was considered the best as a local broiler male line according to its growth, carcass performance, and good immune response.