Characterization of local chickens in selected districts of the Southern Highlands of Tanzania: II. Production and Morphometric traits

摘要

AstudywasconductedintheSouthernHighlandsofTanzaniatodescribetheproductiveandmorphometriccharacteristicsoflocalchickensofthearea.ThreedistrictsnamelyChunya,NjombeandSongeawereselectedfordatacollection.Aquestionnairewasusedtoextractinformationfromthefarmerswithrespecttoproductionattributesoftheirlocalchickens.Measurementsonbodyweight,bodylength,circumferenceofthechest,shanklength,thighlength,wingspan,eggweight,egglengthandeggbreadthweretakenon693maturechickens(538femalesand155males).Eggmeasurementsweretakenfromonehundredandfiftyfivefreshlylaideggs.nbsp;Theresultsobtainedindicatethatthereexistssignificantvariationbetweendistrictswithrespecttosomeproductionattributesaswellasbodyweightandotherbodymeasurements.Theaverageageatsexualmaturity,clutchsizeperhen,chickshatchedperclutch,chicksweanedperhatchandhatchabilitywere7.48months,13.7eggs,9.89,6.89and88%respectively.Chunyadistricthadtheheaviestchickens(2021g)whileSongeahadthelightestbirds(1622g).Overall,malechickenswerehigherthanfemalebirdswithrespectstoallattributesstudied.Bodyweightappearedtobehighlypositivelycorrelatedtoallotherbodymeasurementsconsideredinthisstudy.Forthepurposeofimplementationofselectionforbodysizebyfarmerschestcircumferenceandthighlengthcouldbeconvenientlyusedinplaceofactualbodyweightwhichwouldbedifficulttomeasureundervillagecondition.RegardingexternaleggmeasurementsitisapparentthatchickensinSongeadistricthadthesmallesteggs.nbsp;Theobservedvariationinthepresentstudysuggeststhatthereisaroomforselectionwithinandbetweenthelocalchickenpopulationsforbotheggproductionandmorphometrictraits.ThereisaneedtopayparticularattentiontotheChunyadistrictchickenpopulationforpossibleconsiderationforconservation.nbsp;