Breeding objectives and farmers’ perceptions for indigenous chicken ecotypes in Southern Ethiopia

Abstract

The aim of the study was to identify the breeding objectives and selection criteria of farmers for indigenous chickens in southern region of Ethiopia. Data were subjected to GLM procedures of Statistical Analysis System (SAS 2012, ver. 9.4) by fitting zones as independent variable to analyze the chicken population composition. Moreover, ranking analyses were used for computing data on breeding objective and selection criteria of indigenous chicken. Indexes were used to calculate data collected from rankings using weighed averages. Hens and chicks showed significantly (p<0.05) higher in number for Wolaita; however, the number of cockerels is significantly (p<0.05) higher in Hadiya followed by Wolaita zone. The results of this study suggested that farmers have different breeding objectives for their chicken. Across all the three studied zones, egg production was ranked first; however, rearing chickens for the cultural purpose is documented as less across all the three studied zones of the southern Ethiopia. The selection criteria used for selection of breeding hen; egg number, plumage color, hatchability, broodiness and egg size were the traits of highest importance for selection purpose with an index values of 0.365, 0.129, 0.129, 0.120 and 0.102 respectively. The highest selection criteria used to select breeding cock were body size, growth rate, plumage color and comb type. Development of a breeding programs for improvement of indigenous chicken strains should focus on the traits prioritized by farmers because of breeding goals developed without considering the needs of all the stakeholders have high chances of failerity by end users.