Review on Production and Reproduction Performance of Indigenous Chicken in Ethiopia

Abstract

The review summarizes the production and reproductive performance of indigenous chicken in Ethiopia. Even though the total population of indigenous chicken is high enough (98%) than other exotic and crossbreeds, the gain from the poultry sector is still low. Thus, production was encountered under free-range systems with low input for the sector, which limits the profit due to low egg production, small egg size, slow growth rate, late maturity, small clutch size, intensive inclination to broodiness, and high mortality of chickens. The reproductive performance of indigenous chickens includes hatchability and fertility of eggs in addition to the above, which depended on health, nutrition, genetics, storage, incubation condition, and seasonal fluctuation, as well as the number of eggs given to broody hens, was also another factor that causes variability. The hatchability of broody hen reaches up to 85.69%, which was higher than reports from a modern incubator in governmental poultry breed and multiplication centre in Ethiopia (69%) under standard breeding conditions. In terms of the egg and meat production, minimum values were recorded than other exotic and cross breeds because there was no identified productive breed in the country and still in classifications based on ecotypes/location/ and feather plumages of the chicken, even if they have good quality in terms of test for their products. They are also good scavenging as well as foragers and have a high level of disease tolerance, good maternal quality, adapt to harsh conditions and poor-quality feeds. However, there is a lack of knowledge about poultry production, limitation of feed resources, the prevalence of disease as well as institutional and socio-economic conditions are faced