Production objectives and trait preferences of village poultry producers of Ethiopia: implications for designing breeding schemes utilizing indigenous chicken genetic resources |
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| Authors: | Dana Nigussie van der Waaij Liesbeth H Dessie Tadelle van Arendonk Johan A M |
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| Institution: | (1) Ethiopian Agricultural Research Institute, P.O. Box 32, Debre, Zeit, Ethiopia;(2) Animal Breeding and Genomics Centre, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 338, 6700 AH Wageningen, The Netherlands;(3) Adaptation Physiology Group, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 338, 6700 AH Wageningen, The Netherlands;(4) International Livestock Research Institute, P.O. Box 5689, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia |
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| Abstract: | To generate information essential for the implementation of breeding schemes suitable for village poultry producers in Ethiopia,
a survey was conducted aimed at defining the socioeconomic characteristics of the production environments in different geographic
regions, understanding the important functions of chickens, identifying farmers’ choice of chicken breeds and the underlying
factors that determine the choice of genetic stock used. The survey included both questionnaire survey and a participatory
group discussion. A total of 225 households (45 households from each of five Woredas) were interviewed. The questionnaire was designed to collect data covering general information on village poultry production
such as socio-management characteristics, production objectives, population structure, breed choice and trait preferences,
market preferences of specific traits, and farmers’ selection practices. The participatory farmers’ discussions were designed
to involve stakeholders in defining the breeding objective “traits” and deriving their relative importance in the production
environment based on the different functions of chickens and “traits” identified in the interviews. The results showed that
production of eggs for consumption is the principal function of chickens in most regions followed by the use as source of
income and meat for home consumption. The production system in all geographic regions studied revealed similar features generally
characterized by extensive scavenging management, absence of immunization programs, increased risk of exposure of birds to
disease and predators, and reproduction entirely based on uncontrolled natural mating and hatching of eggs using broody hens.
Farmers’ ratings of indigenous chickens with respect to modern breeds showed the highest significance of the adaptive traits
in general, and the superior merits of indigenous chickens to high yielding exotic breeds in particular. Adaptation to the
production environment was the most important attribute of chickens in all the study areas. The high significance attributed
to reproduction traits indicates the need for maintaining broody behavior and high level of hatchability while breeding for
improved productivity of indigenous chickens for village conditions. The market price of chickens is primarily dictated by
weight, but farmers rated growth (males) and number of eggs followed by growth (females) as the production traits they would
like the most to be improved. Therefore, the ultimate breeding goal should be to develop a dual-purpose breed based on indigenous
chicken genetic resources with any of the comb types other than single for all the regions studied having the most preferred
white body plumage for farmers in the Amhara region and red body plumage for those in Oromia, Benshangul-Gumuz, and Southern
regions. |
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