Assessment of production performances and egg qualities of household poultry in hidabu abote district of north shoa, Ethiopia

Abstract

This study was conducted to assess the production performances and egg qualities of household poultry in Hidabu Abote district. A total of 180 randomly selected households from three different agro-ecologies were used to collect primary data with the use of questionnaires. A total of 180 eggs of indigenous, cross and exotic breeds (like brown leghorn) were also used for the determination of egg quality parameters. The results obtained showed that mean flock size of the study area was 6.8 chickens/household of which 78, 13 and 9% of the total local poultry population were indigenous, crossbred and exotic chickens respectively. About 51.4 and 24.8% of the respondents reported to have kept chicken for the purpose of income generation and household consumption in all the agro ecologies studied respectively. The dominant chicken production system was reported to be an extensive type/free ranges (82.3%). New castle disease (67.8%) and Kitchen waste born disease (32.2%) including, Fowl pox, Coccidiosis, Fowl typhoid and Salmonella were found to be the major poultry diseases with relatively high prevalence. About 42.8 and 38% of the farmers reported that wild cats and eagle as major predators respectively. About 46% of the respondents used different perching materials in all the agroecologies studied. The mean age at first egg was reported to be 5.7, 5.1 and 4.8 months for indigenous, cross breed and exotic pullets respectively. The mean egg number/ clutch / hen were calculated to be 22, 22.7 and 23.95 for the highland, mid highland and lowland respectively. About 45 and 36% of the respondent’s use urban and local market to sale live birds and eggs respectively. There was significant difference (P<0.05) between the agro-ecologies in egg quality parameters except albumen height, yolk weight, egg shape index and Haugh unit. Exotic chickens had higher mean values than that of the crossbred and indigenous chickens in most of the egg quality parameters. Awareness creation and orientation of the farming community in the area of factors affecting productivity and egg quality seems to be appealing in the study area.