Village Chicken Breeding Objectives and Trait Preferences of Chicken Producers’ in Western Amhara, Ethiopia

Birhan Kassa

doi:10.7176/jbah/10-9-03

Abstract

This study was carried out to generate base line information on village chicken production objective, breeding practice and trait preference of chicken producers in South Achefre, Banija and FagitaLekoma districts of western Amhara. Multi stage sampling procedures were employed to select the study villages and respondents, where nine villages and 180 respondents were selected by purposive and random sampling techniques, respectively. Data were collected by individual survey using Open Data Kit. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics of SPSS version 20 and ranking index. Main purposes of keeping chicken in the study area are sale of egg and live adult chicken and farmers have a multiple breeding practice. Exotic breed was the first priority of chicken producers. The three most preferred trait for the selection of breeding hen are egg production trait, disease resistance and mothering ability, while the three most preferred trait for the selection of breeding cockare body conformation/ physical appearance, body size and diseases resistance. Comprehensible knowledge on breeding practices, objectives and trait preferences of chicken owners are crucial for development of holistic and applicable genetic improvement program. Hence, production objectives and trait preference should incorporate in designing genetic improvement breeding programs to assure sustainable utilization and improvement of indigenous chickens. Keywords: Breeding hen, Breeding practices, Breeding objectives, Trait preference DOI: 10.7176/JBAH/10-9-03 Publication date: May 31 st 2020

Highlights

The total chicken population in Ethiopia is estimated at 60.51 million (CSA, 2016), with regard to breed, 94.33 percent of the total poultry were indigenous chickens, while the remaining 3.21 and 2.47 percent of the total poultry were reported to be hybrid and exotic, respectively
Comprehensible knowledge on breeding practices, objectives and trait preferences of chicken owners are crucial for development of holistic and applicable genetic improvement program
Production objectives and trait preference should incorporate in designing genetic improvement breeding programs to assure sustainable utilization and improvement of indigenous chickens

Summary

Introduction

The total chicken population in Ethiopia is estimated at 60.51 million (CSA, 2016), with regard to breed, 94.33 percent of the total poultry were indigenous chickens, while the remaining 3.21 and 2.47 percent of the total poultry were reported to be hybrid and exotic, respectively. Efforts to improve the performance of local chickens through cross breeding with exotic breeds were not successful (Dana et al, 2010) which are attributed to the dissemination of inappropriate technologies without understanding of production environments under which indigenous chickens are raised and the lack of information on breeding objectives and farmers’ trait preferences. In Ethiopia like other developing countries, agro-ecologically based breeding programs for indigenous chicken breeds are lacking (Dana et al, 2010). Base line information on indigenous breeding practices, production objectives and farmers’ trait preferences require for designing, planning and implementing sustainable and holistic genetic improvement programmes of indigenous chickens so as to ensure sustainable improvement, utilization and conservation of indigenous chicken genetic resources and to uplift their contributions to improve the livelihoods of smallholder farmers.Thierfore, this study was aimed to assess breeding objective, breeding practice and triat preference of chicken producers in the study area

Objectives

Methods

Results