Phenotypic Characterization and Predicting Body Weight of Local Chicken in Doba and Mesala Districts, West Hararghe Zone, Ethiopia

Sufiyan Abdi Musa*, Kefelegn Kebede and Yesihak Yusuf

The study was carried out to describe the phenotypic characterization, and body weight prediction from LBM of local chicken ecotypes in the Doba and Mesala districts of the West Hararghe Zone, Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia. A total of 420 adult live chickens of both sexes, 210 chickens (92 male and 118 female) older than 24 weeks from Doba, and 210 chickens (65 male and 145 female) from Mesala were employed for gathering information on both quantitative and qualitative traits. Univariate analysis, multivariate analysis, Generalized Linear Model (GLM) procedure, Multiple Linear Regression (MLR), and Pearson Correlation Coefficient (PCC) of SAS (version 9.4) were used to analyze the quantitative data, while qualitative data of the investigated chicken were analyzed using the frequency procedure of the Chi-square (χ2) test and descriptive statistics. There were significant differences (p < .0001) in the diversity of colour between and within the agroecology concerning body plumage colour. However, in the Doba and Mesala districts, respectively, brown, white, and red comprise the majority of the local chicken ecotype colour in both females and males. The findings showed that morphological appearances (Head shape and comb color) varied significantly (p < 0.05. More desirable traits and community-based genetic improvement programs should be developed and implemented with the inclusion of phenotypic characterization and body weight improvement of local chicken breeds. These steps would complement the current study by conserving as well as using diverse indigenous chicken genetic resources sustainably.

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Published on: Apr 1, 2026 Pages: 8-16

Full Text PDF Full Text HTML DOI: 10.17352/ijvsr.000157
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