Production and reproduction performance of rural poultry in lowland and midland agro-ecological zones of central Tigray, Northern Ethiopia

Abstract

The study was conducted in lowland and midland agro-ecological zones of central Tigray, in northern Ethiopia with the objective of characterization of village poultry marketing system under rural household management. A total of 160 households and 50% of them were female headed households. Data were collected using semi structured questionnaire and monitoring individual households. Chi- square test was employed for ordinal and nominal data. ANOVA was also employed for continuous data. Average age at first mating of cockerels was 26 and average age at first egg of local pullets was 27.2 weeks. Average egg production per year was 43.4 eggs for local hens, 81.4 eggs for cross breed hens and 144.3 eggs for exotic hens. Average number of eggs set for incubation per broody hen was 10.2±0.23 eggs with hatchability of 82.5 and 88.85% in lowland and midland agro-ecologies, respectively. The average survival rate of chicks was 61.95% in lowland and 69.4% in midland agro-ecology. Average weight of cocks, hens, cockerels and pullets was 1.69, 1.37, 1.024 and 1.02 kg, respectively in lowland and 1.81, 1.356, 1.119 and 1.064 kg, respectively in midland. Average mortality of chickens was 10 per year and it was significantly higher (P<0001) in lowland (12.96) than in midland (7.05). Relatively local chickens in midland agro-ecology have better performance. Egg production, hatchability, survival of chicks and mortality of chickens vary with agro-ecology. Key words: Mortality, hatchability, predators, disease.