Quantitative and qualitative traits characterisation of indigenous chickens in Southern African countries

Abstract

Indigenous poultry production is important to human lives as they alleviate poverty by providing an affordable source of animal proteins. Besides, it serves as the easiest source of income for rural farmers in developing countries. The current review was conducted to evaluate the research findings of indigenous chickens’ quantitative and qualitative traits characterisations in Southern African countries. Quantitative and qualitative traits characterisation is the first step for genetic improvement in livestock. The documents used in the review were attained from different search engines, most of which were published lately (after 2010). Potchefstroom Koekoek, Venda, Naked Neck, Ovambo, Boschveld and Tswana indigenous chicken breeds in the Southern African countries were characterised. The studies suggest that there are variations in quantitative traits including live weight, egg weight, wing length, comb length and shank length and qualitative traits including feather color, comb type, comb color and eggshell color of indigenous chickens of Southern African countries. The single red comb types and red wattles were observed in most indigenous chicken breeds in Southern African countries. The present review concludes that the characterisation of quantitative and qualitative traits assists greatly in the differentiation and identification of indigenous chicken breeds.