MORPHOLOGICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF INDIGENOUS CHICKEN POPULATIONS OF CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN PARTS OF BORNO STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

Morphological characterization of 600 indigenous chickens (normal feathered, naked neck and frizzle feathered) extensively reared in the central and southern parts of Borno State was investigated. Eight morphological measurements examined were body weight (BW), ornithological measurement (OM), wing span (WS), neck length (NL), back length (BL), keel length (KL), tail length (TL), and fold wing length (FW). The mean values were 1454.96 g, 63.87, 64.40, 13.32, 21.90, 11.73, 21.31 and 22.10 cm for BW, OM, WS, NL, BL, KL, TL and FW, respectively. Chickens from central part had higher significant (P<0.05) values for body weight (1466.02 g) and keel length (12.23 cm) while those of the southern part had higher significant values for ornithological forms (neck length, back length, tail length) and some feather attributes (wing span and fold wing lengths). This implies that as chickens from the central could be improved for body weight and keel length those from the south could be developed for ornithological forms. Morphological traits of each chicken type were uniform across locations (central and south) based on phylogenetic tree. Meanwhile, frizzle feathered types were most diverse in terms of morphological characteristics while the naked neck and normal feathered were related in these traits. This characterization could be used to develop breeding strategies for improvement of the chickens and their subsequent conservation.