Bruh Asmelash, Mahlet Dawit and Ewonetu Kebede
The study was conducted in Eastern Ethiopian districts of Oromia regional State such as Meta, Deder, Goro Gutu, Babile, and Jigjiga districts of Somali regional state. So far in Eastern Ethiopia, very little effort has been made in characterization of village chicken production, husbandry and identification of smallholder’s trait selections. Therefore, this study was initiated with the aim of characterization of village chicken production, husbandry, breeding practices and identification of smallholder’s trait selection in Eastern Ethiopia. Majority (42.29%) of respondents maintained large proportion of layers in the flock in the study area. The village chicken production of the study districts were characterized by poor management which used scavenging system as major feed resources (99%), no appropriate house (93.3%), no regular vaccination (100%) and uncontrolled breeding. The mean annual egg production of the village chicken of the districts was estimated at 51.66 in an average of 3.69 production cycles a year. All smallholders in the study area keep chickens principally for cash income more important than egg and meat production for home consumption. Moreover, majority of respondents get benefit (31.74%) from chicken manure through application as a fertilizer for garden vegetable production in their backwards. The respondents (89%) confirmed that “Fengil” (New castle disease), “Albasa” (Coccidiosis) and “Kinkin” (External parasites) are the serious disease outbreak results in complete devastation of the flock. Most stallholders ranked first the egg size birds laying (0.412) and second reproduction performances (0.276) among their selection criteria’s. Only few respondents (35%) reared their own cock for a breeding purpose and majority had no breeding experience in improving their chicken productivity.
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