Morphobiometrical characteristics of indigenous chicken ecotype populations in Rwanda.

The rational of conservation and sustainable use of indigenous chicken (IC) resources requires their morphobiometrical characterisation. This study morphobiometrically characterised the IC ecotypes in Rwanda. The morphological features and zoometric measurement data were randomly collected on 1670 mature IC of both sexes from five ecotypes of Rwanda. The nonparametric Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney U test were used in evaluating the effect of ecotypes on the qualitative morphological variables. Zoometric measurements were analysed with the PROC GLM of SAS. The findings showed that the feather morphology and distribution were mainly normal (98.3 and 84.40%, respectively) while feather colour was dominated with multicoloured (38.10%). The majority of the birds had red earlobe (49.20%), yellow shanks (53.80%) and single comb-type (71.70%). These parameters were different (p < 0.05) between the ecotypes. Bodyweight and linear body measurements were highly different (P < 0.001) between ecotypes. Differences associated with sex (P < 0.001) were observed in body weight and linear body measurements. The interaction between ecotype and sex significantly (P < 0.001) influenced body weight, body length, shank length, comb length, comb height, wattle length, chest circumference, neck length and wingspan. The IC ecotypes in Rwanda were found to be diverse morphobiometrically both in quantitative and qualitative traits. These variations provide a foundation for classification of the chicken into breeds.

Characterization of indigenous chicken production systems in Rwanda.

Characterization of indigenous chicken (IC) production systems in Rwanda was conducted from November 2015 to January 2016 with the aim of understanding socio-economic characteristics, management of IC, production parameters, feed resources, and constraints faced by farmers rearing IC. A survey involving 206 households was carried out in 5 districts with the highest populations of IC using structured questionnaires. Data were analyzed using SAS software. The results showed that the majority of respondents (62.4%) were males and 37.6% were females. The majority of respondents (83.6%) had formal education. All family members were involved in the chicken husbandry practices. However, women (78%) were highly responsible for IC management activities. The family size averaged 5 persons (ranging 2 to 13) per household. Land was privately owned by farmers (84%) with a mean holding of 0.87 ha per household. The production system was mainly extensive with minimum provision of supplementary feeds. Chickens were being housed in separate houses at night and mating was uncontrolled. Breeding and replacement stocks were mainly sourced from the hatching of eggs using broody hens (60.68% of respondents). There were no vaccination programs, and ecto- and endo-parasites control was done when need arose. Egg production, income generation, meat production, and production of breeding stock were the main reasons of keeping IC. The first 3 main challenges facing IC production were diseases outbreaks, lack of investment capital, and predators. Others challenges, such as feed shortage, thieves, fluctuation of market price, lack of information on poultry rearing, and lack of chicken houses, also were mentioned. The IC production constraints mentioned need urgent mitigation measures to sustain utilization of IC against the changing climatic and economic conditions. Therefore, individual, public institution, and non-governmental organization efforts are required to develop sustainable breeding objectives directed to functions of IC and production challenges faced in the systems.