Abstract
In Ethiopia, chicken production plays an important role in providing human food consumption, growth of domestic products, and creating employment opportunities. Despite their importance, the production and reproduction performance of chickens in the country is under expectation owing to the gap between low productive indigenous and low adaptive ability of highly productive chicken breeds. By considering this, the present paper aims to deliver, synthesize, and summarize the compiled information on the current status of indigenous and highly productive chicken breeds. Currently, there are several highly productive chicken breeds available in Ethiopia. Among these, Rhode Island Red, Fayoumi, Potchefstroom Koekoek, Sasso, Bovan Brown, Issa Brown, and Leghorn are being kept under various husbandry systems. Besides, indigenous chicken ecotypes such as barley plumage color, red plumage color, white plumage color, and black plumage color have been characterized in the country. However, the average annual egg production of indigenous and highly productive chicken breeds did not exceed 60 and 250 eggs, respectively. On the other hand, the meat production ability of indigenous chickens is limited as cockerels and pullets may reach 1.5 and 1.05 kilogram live weight at 6 months of age, respectively. Concerning the husbandry system, a majority of owners supplied feed to chickens on the ground and water in plastic containers while scavenging is being the common feeding system in most parts of the country. Furthermore, the majority of the owners are using no separate housing system and treat their chickens traditionally. Thus, awareness should be emphasized on enhancing the improvement of chicken husbandry systems for better production and reproduction performance.
Highlights
Introduction eEthiopian economy is based on agriculture, and this sector contributes about 42.30% to the total gross domestic products [1]
The White Leghorn chicken breed performed significantly better as assigned to household conditions with or without supplementation at the stage of age at first egg in Southern Ethiopia [11]
In Ethiopia, chicken production plays a great role by contributing to the growth of domestic products, food consumption, and employment opportunities
Summary
In Ethiopia, chicken production plays an important role in providing human food consumption, growth of domestic products, and creating employment opportunities. Despite their importance, the production and reproduction performance of chickens in the country is under expectation owing to the gap between low productive indigenous and low adaptive ability of highly productive chicken breeds. Chicken production plays a crucial role in the provision of affordable animal protein for human food consumption and cash income generating [4] It creates an employment opportunity for the youth, elders, and women in rural, periurban, and urban areas [5]. Indigenous chickens are known for their low production performance due to the factors such as slow growth rate, late sexual maturity, and low productivity [3, 4]
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