Morphological and morphometric features of indigenous chicken in North Shewa zone, Oromia regional state, Ethiopia

This study was conducted in the Kuyu and Girar Jarso districts of north Shoa Zone Oromia regional state, Ethiopia, to generate information on the morphological and morphometric characterization of local chicken ecotypes. Multi-stage purposive random sampling technique was used to collect the data. Morph metric data were collected on body weight and other linear measurements and analyzed using the statistical analysis system’s generalized linear model (GLM) procedures. A total of 576 (192 male and 384 female) chickens were considered for qualitative and quantitative traits studies. The results showed that all indigenous chicken in the study area possesses normal feather morphology where, as 99.5% normal and 0.5% crest feather distribution were found. The dominant skin color was yellow, 59.2%, followed by white, 31.6%. With regard to shank color, the yellow color was the dominant (47.6%), followed by white (29.3%) and gray (16.7%). Red (13%), white (11.8%), and Kohima (11.1%) were the predominant plumage colors observed in the study area. The overall mean of body weight, chest circumference, wing span, body length, and shank length for males and females were 1.7 and1.2 kg, 28.7 and 27 cm, 40.4, 39.4, 37.5, 35.3, 8.4 and 8.2 cm respectively. In the present study, morphological and phenotypical variations have been observed among the indigenous chicken populations; hence, an in-depth molecular evaluation is needed to show the level of genetic variation and relationship among them.