Morphometric and carcass traits of indigenous chickens under the prevailing scavenging production system in Farta District of South Gondar Zone, Amhara, Ethiopia

Indigenous chicken genetic diversity is the basis for future climate resilient poultry production and phenotypic characterization is fundamental for their conservation programs. The study was conducted in Farta district from December 2023 to May 2024 to investigate the phenotypic variations of indigenous chicken. A total of 360 indigenous chickens and 120 chickens were sampled using multi stage stratified random sampling technique for body morphometric traits and carcass traits, respectively. The results revealed significant variations (<i>P</i> < 0.05) in most of the linear body measurement, carcass and bone morphometric traits across different agroecologies. Chickens in the lowland agroecology exhibited significantly (<i>P</i> < 0.05) higher values in wing span, shank length, comb length, comb height, wattle length and wattle width. They were also significantly (<i>P</i> < 0.05) superior in thigh weight, drumstick weight and tibia bone length compared to chickens in other agroecologies. Chest circumference, shank circumference and breast weight were significantly (<i>P</i> < 0.05) higher in midland chickens while lowland and midland chickens exhibited significantly (<i>P</i> < 0.05) higher values of body weight, body length and dressed carcass yield than highland chickens. Male chickens exhibited significantly (<i>P</i> < 0.05) higher values in most measured traits. The observed variations were attributed to sexual dimorphism and chickens' genetic variations to adapt the local environments opening a new insight of epigenetics in indigenous chicken as a climate resilient chicken ecotype. Molecular studies are crucial to validate the observed phenotypic variations to exploit the genetic potentials of the ecotypes for sustainable production.