Productive and reproductive performances of indigenous chicken population and traits preference of smallholder farmers in Bale Zone, Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia

A study was conducted on productive and reproductive performances of indigenous chicken population and traits preference of smallholder farmers in Bale Zone, Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia for assessing productive and reproductive performances of indigenous chicken population and farmers traits preference in study area. The study was conducted in five selected districts (Madda Walabu, Delomena, Berbere, Ginnir and Sinana districts) of Bale zone, south east Ethiopia. For this study, a total of 390 household having indigenous chicken population were sampled using simple random sampling techniques. The collected data were coded and inserted on Microsoft excel spread sheet and analysed using SAS software version 9.13. Growth rate and egg production traits are the first and second selection criteria preferred by farmers/pastoralists across study districts. Weight is the main trait preference by farmers/pastoralist both for male and female chicken across all study districts. The average age of indigenous cockerels and pullets at first mating and laying was 4.30 ± 0.1 and 4.50 ± 0.1 months, respectively. The number of clutches per hen and eggs per clutch and total eggs produced per hen per year were 4.0 ± 0.12, and 20.18 ± 0.66 eggs, respectively. The hatchability and survival rate of chicks were 76.25 and 74.35%, respectively. The result of study indicated that farmers/pastoralists in study area were practices different selection criteria and trait preference both for male and female chicken. Therefore, the study suggested that there is an opportunity for genetic improvement through selection and there is a need of in-depth breed characterization and the relationship of trait preference of farmers/pastoralists with economical values of the traits.