Phenotypic Characterization of Indigenous Chicken Population in Ethiopia.

ABSTRACT

Phenotypic characterization of indigenous chicken ecotypes in two districts of Ethiopia was done using multivariate analyses. Chickens were managed under traditional scavenging system. Qualitative and quantitative morphological traits were analyzed. Out of nineteen distinct plumage colors, brown mottled and red were the predominant ones. Among ecotypes all qualitative traits were significant (P<0.05). Multiple correspondence analysis showed 18.96% of the total variation explained by the first two dimensions. Long legs, large combs and wattle could be indicative of better heat dissipation of birds in tropical hot environment. Discriminant analysis identified shank length, body length, comb width, body weight, wingspan and comb height to have more discriminating power causing morphological variation between chicken ecotypes. The correlation between the first canonical variable and the two chicken ecotypes is moderate (0.55), canonical variables being highly significant based on the Wilks lambda test. Hundred nineteen chickens (86.2%) that belonged to Horro ecotype were correctly classified with 13.8% rate of error while 123 chickens (80.4%) that belonged to Jarso ecotype were correctly classified leaving 19.6% error rate.