Assessment of Morphological, Egg Quality and Carcass Characteristics of Local and Exotic Chickens Reared in Two Districts of Metekel Zone Ethiopia

A study was conducted in two selected districts (Pawe and Bulen) of Metekel Zone to assess the morphological and egg quality traits and carcass components of local and exotic chickens. Morphometric traits were assessed from 900 adult local and exotic chickens while qualitative traits were determined from 600 local chickens. For the evaluation of egg quality, 600 eggs from both genotypes (300 eggs from exotic and 300 from local) were used from sampled households. A total of 80 chickens (40 from each genotype) were used to assess the carcass components. The results indicated that the majority of local chickens raised in the two districts are characterized by normal feather type. The local chickens from Pawe were characterized by pea comb while those of Bulle by the rose comb. Creamy ear lobe and yellow shank colors were predominant in both districts. Except for back length and shank length, chickens in Bulen were superior (p<0.05) to those of Pawe in all other morphometric traits. Male chickens had higher (p<0.05) values in all morphometric traits than females. Except for body length and back length, other morphometric traits were higher (p<0.05) in exotic chickens than in locals. Except egg yolk colors, egg quality values were higher for Bulen (p<0.05) chickens than those of Pawe. Eggs of exotic chickens had higher (p<0.05) qualities than those of local chickens. Most of the carcass components were higher (p<0.05) in Bulen chickens than those of Pawe. Exotic genotypes were superior (p<0.05) to local chickens in most carcass components. Male chickens had higher (p<0.05) carcass values than females. In conclusion, exotic chickens were found to be superior to local chickens in most of the studied quantitative traits and thus could be further used by the smallholder farmers. The survival ability and egg production potential of exotic chickens under smallholder settings appears to be relevant research gaps to be addressed by other scholars.