Analyzing eggs quality is so important for both consumers and for coming new chicks. Total of 300 eggs (100 eggs from each native, Sasso and Bovans brown) chicken were collected during winter of 2017 to evaluate some egg quality parameters of chickens reared at Yirgalem and Hawassa towns of Southern Ethiopia. The eggs were purchased from the householders and each egg was carefully broken on a glass sheet, and was analyzed for different quality traits. The results of the study indicated that the weight of the eggs highly varied between the genotypes and also within genotypes (between locations) the eggs of the native chickens weighed (45.20±5.53 and 39.30±4.04 g), while eggs of Sasso chickens weighed (56.40±7.07 and 56.00±7.2 g), whereas those of Bovans brown weighed (57.80±7.22 and 60.70±5.98 g) at Hawassa and Yirgalem towns, respectively. The results pertaining to the Haugh unit of the eggs (from Hawassa and Yirgalem) and of the native chickens was (74.91±15.78 and 82.55±3.82), while for Sasso chickens (86.50±11.07 and 87.04±11.10) and Bovans brown were (94.60±7.74 and 86.29±5.85), respectively. The Haugh unit of the egg from the native chickens was lower than exotic chicken; this was observed irrespective of the locations. It was concluded that egg quality of exotic chickens in the study areas performed fairly well, but it needs further comparative study under farmers' level and intensive farm.
This study was conducted to assess production performance of chicken under farmers' management and their roles in the household economy of local and exotic chickens reared at Yirgalem and Hawassa towns of Southern Ethiopia. Purposive sampling method was used for selecting the respondents. Totally, 180 respondents were selected based on their experience in chicken production. The study indicates that the average number of eggs set for incubation was 10.05 ± 0.81 of which the hatchability was 8.42 ± 1.19 eggs. The age at first egg laying for the native chickens raised at Hawassa and Yirgalem towns was 6.31 ± 0.53 and 6.10 ± 0.30 months respectively with differences recorded both within and between the locations. The age at first egg laying of the Sasso hens was 5.24 ± 0.43 months while the age at first egg lay for Bovans was 5.37 ± 0.49 months. The difference was observed (P < 0.05) across the studied locations. The values were lower when compared to those of the native chickens. It was also observed that the contributions of the exotic chickens to the livelihood and food security of the rearers were insignificant. It was concluded from this study that the exotic chickens in the study areas performed fairly well and could do so further if they are provided with better health care, scientific nutrition and management.
Rearing of chicken plays important roles on both the rural and urban economy of Ethiopia. This study was conducted to assess urban poultry production system and productive performance of local and exotic chickens reared at Yirgalem and Hawassa towns of Southern Ethiopia. Stepwise purposive sampling method followed by random sampling was used to select the respondents. In total, 180 respondents were selected based on their experience in chicken production. The results of the study indicated that most of the respondents reared the chickens using backyard production system. Most of the respondents (77.8%) reared chicken using both free range and semi intensive management system. All the respondents provided supplementary feed, while majority of them provide water to their flock. The findings also showed only 38.3% of the respondents provided separate houses for their flock. The Major constraints in the study areas which affected the flock were diseases (Newcastle and coccidiosis), followed by adaptability especially for exotic chickens. It was concluded that the management system of chickens in the study areas were well, compared to rural management system; nonetheless it needs further work on their better health care, scientific nutrition and management. It was also observed that the contributions of the exotic chickens to the livelihood and food security of the rearers are significant.
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