Indigenous Chicken Ecotypes in Ethiopia: Growth and Feed Utilization Potentials

Abstract

Growth performances and feed utilization potentials of six chicken populations were investigated at Debre Zeit Agricultural Research Centre, Ethiopia. Five local ecotypes originated from different Agro- ecologies and corresponding market sheds in Ethiopia, namely, Tilili, Horro, Chefe, Jarso, Tepi, and the Fayoumi breed was used as a reference breed. Ecotype had a significant (p<0.01) effect on overall body weight gain per bird and mean body weight gain per bird per day from day old to 12 weeks of age. The highest body weight gain per bird was recorded for Fayoumi chicks. The Fayoumi chicks were 11.9, 97.7 and 49.4% heavier than chicks from Chefe (heaviest locals at this age) ecotype, Jarso (least total body weight gain among the locals at this age) ecotype and mean daily gain of all local ecotypes, respectively at si x weeks of age. Chefe chicks ecotypes showed 76.8% positive deviation over chicks from Jarso market sheds in terms of total body weight gain per bird at this age. The Fayoumi chicks consumed 41, 115 and 65% more feed than chicks from Chefe ecotype (highest body weight gain and feed intake among locals at this age), Jarso ecotype (lowest body weight gain and least feed intake among the locals at this age) and the mean feed intake of all local ecotypes, at six weeks of age, respectively. Among the local ecotypes, Jarso and Tepi had the smaller body weight gains while Chefe and Tilili had larger weight gains. The result from the analysis of variance showed a highly significant (p<0.001) difference on body weight gain per bird, average body weight gain per bird per day, feed intake per bird, average feed intake per bird per day and feed conversion ratio (feed: gain) among the different ecotypes and sex from six to 12 weeks of age. The highest body weight gain per bird and mean daily body weight gain per bird per day among the locals were recorded for Tilili growers. The Fayoumi chicks were 28, 77 and 52% heavier than chicks from Tilili ecotypes (heaviest locals at this age), Tepi ecotypes (least total body weight gain among the locals at this age) and mean body weight gain of local birds, respectively. Male growers from Tilili ecotype (heaviest locals at this age), Tepi ecotype (least total body weight gain among the locals at this age) and mean body weight gain of local birds, were 22, 30 and 33% heavier in body weight gain per bird over female chicken at twelve weeks of age , respectively. Feed conversion ratio was also significantly (p<0.01) affected by ecotypes. The highest feed requirement per unit gain was recorded for the Fayoumi chicks followed by chicks from Tepi and Horro chicks and the lowest feed requirement per units of gain was recorded for Tilili and Chefe chicks with feed conversion ratio of 4.95g and 5.2g feed per unit of gain, respectively.