Phenotypic variation of native chicken populations in northwest Ethiopia.

Seven indigenous chicken populations were identified and characterized from four administrative zones in northwest Ethiopia. A total of three hundred chickens were characterized under field conditions for qualitative and quantitative traits following standard chicken descriptors. Large phenotypic variability among chicken populations was observed for plumage color. About 25.49, 22.3, and 16.4 % of the chickens have white, grayish and red plumage colors, respectively. The rest showed a considerable heterogeneity like black, multicolor, black with white tips, red brownish and white with red striped plumage colors. The following characteristics were also displayed: plain head shape (51.18%), yellow shank color (64.42%) and pea comb (50.72%). About 97.52% of the chickens did not have feathers on their legs. Variations were also observed on quantitative characters such as shank length, egg size and body weight and other reproductive traits characterized on intensive management system.