Productive and reproductive performances, egg quality, and carcass traits among indigenous, exotic and crossbred chickens in Ethiopia

Abstract

SUMMARY This article presents a review of the productive and reproductive performances, egg-laying capability, egg quality, and carcass characteristics of indigenous, exotic, and crossbred chicken genotypes in Ethiopia. Indigenous chickens can reach sexual maturity in 193.5–238 days when raised under scavenging management systems, laying eggs that average 43.9 g. However, those reared intensively can attain sexual maturity in 156 days. Those chickens kept in scavenging management systems produced 49.4–54.6 eggs per hen per year. Fertility rates for indigenous chicken eggs range from 74.5% to 78.2%, while hatchability ranges from 84.1% to 91.5% under scavenging management, while under improved management, the fertility and hatchability percentages could be increased to 80% and 91.7%, respectively. The male exotic Novo colour chicken genotypes have the highest body weight (2934.4 g) and the lowest (better) feed conversion ratio (2.36) compared to the other. Several crosses, such as Dominant Red Bared crosses with Horro ecotype in the dam line, resulted in higher growth rates than purebred lines. The exotic chicken genotype had significantly superior egg weight, egg length and width, albumen weight, and huge unit compared to the indigenous and crossbred genotypes. Novo-colour chicken genotypes had the highest slaughter weight, while Kuroiler chickens had the highest dressing percentage (81%) compared to the other genotypes. The Sasso crossbred chicken had the highest slaughter weight (2403 g) compared to the indigenous chickens (1605 g) under scavenging management. Generally, this review presented that crossbreeding indigenous chicken with exotic breeds resulted in better performance traits than the indigenous chicken genotypes. Thus, for the crossbreeding programme selecting an appropriate exotic chicken genotype that performs better under various agroecological settings is crucial for sustainable utilisation and maintaining food security in Ethiopia.