Abstract:
The study was conducted in Darolebu and Haramaya districts of eastern Oromia with the objective of characterising chicken production system and evaluating production performances of Sasso x RIR, Koekoek and improved Horro chickens under village production system for 44 weeks. For the characterization of the chicken production system data were collected from 118 households through semi-structured and structured questionnaires while 144 households were included for on-farm performance evaluation of the three chicken stains. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 20 and SAS 9.3 The study result revealed that,respondent’s maintain a large proportion of layers (37.33% in Haramaya and 48.7% in Darolabu) in their flock as compared to other classes. The main purposes of producing poultry were egg sales, egg consumption and meat consumption in their order of importance.. For the majority of respondents’ sources of foundation, stock was purchase from the market. Almost all of the respondents in the study area practice housing system in the night but during the day free range were the common practice (no housing). Average Ages of sexual maturity of hens and cocks were 24.93±4.33 and, 24.51±4.35 weeks. The major reason of culling chickens in the study area was poor egg production followed by old age. Selection criteria used for selection of breeding hen for Haramaya district were egg productivity, body size /weight, hatching whereas in Darolabu district body size, body feather and growth rate in their order of importance, However, Selections of breeding cock were mainly based on comb type and Body size. Body weight was significantly (p<0.05) higher in Sasso-RIR and lower in improved Horro throughout the growing period. The egg weight of the three strains were significantly (p<0.05) different and higher for Sasso RIR and Koekoek but lower for improved Horro ecotype. The Hen-Day Egg Production at 28 weeks was significantly (P <0.05) different between breeds and higher in the exotic breeds and lower in improved Horro breed.. The Hen-day egg production at 32, 36, 40 and 44weeks was significantly (P<0.05) different in the three strains and higher in Koekoek and Sasso-RIR but lower in improved Horro ecotype. Sasso-RIR has substantial production capabilities as a dual purpose bird suitable for rural and backyard farming. The three most important farmer preferred traits from the introduced chicken strains were number of eggs( index=0.35),egg size(index=0.20)and body size(index =0.14 ) and from the local chicken breed scavenging ability(0.30) survivability(0.24)and low supplementary feed requirement (0.16) were the most preferred trait. This study concluded that poultry production system in the study area was characterized by low input and traditional poultry production system using indigenous chicken breed, and Sasso-RIR breed was better than Koekoek and improved Horro in body weight, egg weight and egg production which are economically important traits.
