Morphological characterization of indigenous laying chickens in three regions of Ghana

Abstract

This experiment was conducted to identify, characterize and assess the variation in morphological traits of indigenous laying chicken populations in Wassa Amenfi Central District, Wassa Amenfi East and West Municipals in the Western Region, Ga East, West and North Municipals in the Greater Accra Region and Nsawam Adoigyiri Municipal, Upper West Akim District and Akuapim South District in the Eastern Region of Ghana. Purposive sampling was used to select twenty-seven laying chickens from twenty-seven farmers in each region. A total of twenty morphological traits were identified and measured successfully. Data collected was subjected to the Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) model using GenStat 12.1 (2009) software. The results of this study showed significant difference (P<0.05) in Ornithological measurement, skull with, beak length, neck width, back length, leg length, and tarsus length in birds between the three regions. The performance of birds in the Western and Eastern Regions were higher than the performance of birds in the Greater Accra Region. The result also revealed a non- significant difference (P>0.05) in body weight, one wing, wing span, rectal temperature, skull length, wattle length, neck length, tail length, thigh length, thigh width, tarsus width, central toe length and claw length. It could be concluded that variation exists among certain morphological traits in indigenous laying chicken.