Determinants of Rural Households’ Poultry Chicken Breeds Choice in Wolaita, Ethiopia

To achieve increased productivity in poultry chicken, households’ choice of poultry chicken breeds should be maintained according to their desirability. This study aimed at identifying determinants of rural households’ choice of poultry chicken breeds keeping in Wolaita, Ethiopia. Multistage sampling techniques were used. First, Damot Pulasa district was selected purposively because of high poultry production potential, and then simple random sampling technique was used to select five kebeles and at third stage systematic random sampling was used to select 160 rural households. Data were collected through interview schedule and analyzed using descriptive statistics and econometric regression. Result showed that 54.37% of households owned indigenous poultry chicken breed, 38% owned exotic poultry chicken breeds and 7.63% owned both indigenous and exotic poultry chicken breeds. Households attached socioeconomic, demographic and institutional factors and breed related traits to their poultry chicken breed choices. Indigenous chicken breeds were preferred in mothering ability, disease resistance, scavenging ability; taste of meat and egg traits whereas exotic poultry chicken breeds were preferred for growth rate, productivity and total eggs laid per chicken per year. In addition, Multinomial Logit model result indicated that age and education level of household head determined poultry chicken breed choice. To be effective and efficient any poultry chicken breed promotion effort in the future should consider these particular preferences of households.

Morphometric and morphological characterization of chicken resources adapted to pastoral and agropastoral areas of southern Ethiopia

Thirteen qualitative and six quantitative variables taken from 303 adult chickens (95 cocks and 208 hens) from three locations/districts were used to phenotypically characterize the indigenous chicken populations in pastoral areas of South Omo Zone, Ethiopia. The studied traits were influenced by the effect of location and sex, where chicken populations from Hamer district and females of all districts were the smallest and lightest. Qualitative characteristics of the studied chicken populations such as normal feather morphology and distribution, plain plumage pattern, flat head shape, triangular body shape, and dominant red eye, earlobe and plumage colour suggest that they constitute previously undescribed populations. Chest circumference, wingspan and body length were the three most important morphometric traits used in discriminating the studied chicken populations. On average, 61% of the sampled populations were classified correctly into their respective locations. The multivariate analysis results discriminate the chicken populations into two groups: the Hamer group and the Omo group (chickens from Bena Tsemay and Male districts). However, such grouping should be confirmed and advanced to ecotype level using further genetic characterization studies as the observed phenotypic differences might be due to genetic or environmental variations. Such confirmation is important to design breeding programmes (for sustainable utilization) specific to each ecotype.

Variation in helminth susceptibility of indigenous chickens in Kano and Jigawa States of Nigeria

This study was carried out to identify the helminth parasites and burden associated with five indigenous chicken strains namely normal feathered Fulani ecotypes, naked neck, dwarf and frizzle kept under free- range system in six local government areas of Kano and Jigawa States. A total of 540 fresh faecal samples were collected from the gastrointestinal tract. Faecal egg count (quantitative examination) was carried out using the modified McMaster technique with flotation solution. All the helminths (cestodes and nematodes) were examined under light microscope and identified on the basis of helminthological keys. Worm count, EPG, Packed cell volume (PCV), total serum proteins and albumin were used to assess chicken susceptibility to worm infection. Significant differences were observed among the chicken strains for egg per gramme (EPG), cestodes and nematodes. The highest EPG (119.80) was observed in naked neck chickens, followed by frizzled (114.18), dwarf (62.86), normal feathered (30.80) and Fulani ecotypes (0.71). Frizzled chickens had higher mean cestode (7.96) count than the other strains. Dwarf chickens were significantly (P<0.05) more susceptible to nematode infection. Higher EPG (60.55) and worm burden (cestode, 6.08) was found in males than females. The high gene flow and low differentiation between Fulani ecotype and normal feathered and, naked neck and frizzled buttressed the assertion that the similarity in EPG between them were because of genetic closeness. Susceptibility to worm infection in the study measured by the prevalence and EPG was therefore genetically controlled. There were generally negative and low correlations between egg and adult worm counts with haematological indices considered. Thus, blood parameters do vary in response to helminth infection and could be good measures of susceptibility. Cette étude a été réalisée pour identifier les parasites de Helminthe et le fardeau associé à cinq souches de poulet autochtones, à savoir des écotypes Fulani à plumes normaux, un nuque nu, un nain et une frisée maintenus sous un système de liberté dans six zones gouvernementales locales des États de Kano et Jigawa. Un total de 540 échantillons fécaux frais ont été collectés à partir du tractus gastro-intestinal. Le nombre d'œufs fécaux (examen quantitatif) a été réalisé en utilisant la technique modifiée McMaster avec une solution de flottation. Tous les helminthes (cestodes et nématodes) ont été examinés sous un microscope léger et identifiés sur la base de clés helminthologiques. Le nombre de ver, ŒPG, volume de cellules emballé (VCE), les protéines sériques totales et l'albumine ont été utilisées pour évaluer la sensibilité au poulet à une infection de vers. Des différences significatives ont été observées parmi les souches de poulet pour l'œuf par gramme (ŒPG), des cestodes et des nématodes. Le plus haut ŒPG (119,80) a été observé dans des poulets de cou nu, suivis de frisanges (114,18), de nains (62,86), d'écotypes normaux à plumes (30,80) et de Fulani (0,71). Les poulets frongettes avaient une cestode moyenne moyenne (7,96) comptant que les autres souches. Les poulets nains étaient significativement (p <0,05) plus susceptibles d'infection nématode. L'ŒPG (60,55) et la charge de ver supérieur (CESTOD, 6,08) ont été trouvés chez les poulets que les poules. Le flux de gènes élevé et la faible différenciation entre les écotypes Fulani et la normale à plumes normaux et à la nuque nue et à contreforts librizatés l'affirmation selon laquelle la similitude dans ŒPG entre elles étaient à cause de la proximité génétique. La susceptibilité à une infection de vers dans l'étude mesurée par la prévalence et l'ŒPG a donc été contrôlée génétiquement. Il y avait généralement des corrélations négatives et faibles entre le nombre de ver d'œufs et d'adultes avec des indices hématologiques considérés. Ainsi, les paramètres sanguins varient en réponse à l'infection d'helminthe et pourraient être de bonnes mesures de susceptibilité.

Metagenomic Analysis Reveals the Microbiome and Antibiotic Resistance Genes in Guangdong Yellow-feathered Indigenous Chicken

Background: The yellow-feathered broiler has great nutritional value and a huge industrial scale as a traditional broiler in China. The intestinal microbes have been shown to correlate with poult performance, and serve as an essential reservoir of antibiotic resistance gene (ARG), and antimicrobial resistance is a major public health concern. We investigated the functional characteristics of the six different breeds of yellow-feathered broiler’s (Huiyang Bearded chicken, Xinghua chicken, Huaixiang chicken, Zhongshan Shalan chicken, Qingyuan Patridge chicken, Yangshan chicken) gut microbiome through metagenomics sequencing, to investigate the functions and ARGs in the intestinal microbial communities.Results: The results found that microbial populations of yellow-feathered broilers were mainly dominated by Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes at phylum level and Bacteroides at genus level, and the qingyuanPatridge chicken had a significantly higher level of Prevotella genus than the other five breeds of chicken. PCoA analysis indicated significant differences in the structures of the microbial communities and ARGs based on binary-jaccard distance (analysis of similarities ANOSIM R=0.747, P=0.001 and R=0.525, P=0.001, respectively) among the six breeds of chicken. Analyses using KEGG, eggNOG, and CAZy databases indicated that the pathways of metabolism, genetic information processing and glucoside hydrolase were significantly enriched in the yellow-feathered broilers. We also identified 989 ARGs and mainly composed of ARGs that confer tetracycline, multidrug and aminoglycoside represented more than 80% of the fecal resistomes, and then the tet(Q) gene is the most abundant in yellow-feathered chickens. In addition, we found a greater abundance of resistance genes detected in the Xinghua chicken.Conclusions: Our study presents a metagenomic resource of indigenous chicken cecum microbiomes from six breeds of yellow-feathered broiler. It demonstrates the measure of metagenomic method for annotating microbial taxonomy and functional abundance. With the help of metagenomic, we have shown the difference in the gut microbial community structure of indigenous broiler breeds, and their potential to ARGs and antibiotic resistance. Xinghua chicken has great resistance to antibiotics. Overall, the current data provides a significant improvement to our knowledge and study of the gut microbiome and antibiotic resistance, especially in the indigenous yellow-feathered Chinese chicken.

A multivariate probit analysis for indigenous chicken ownership at household level: The case of Alice communal area, South Africa

African indigenous chickens (IC) though commonly kept by households in rural areas for consumption and sale, their contribution to rural livelihoods is generally overlooked. Literature suggests that IC production plays a vital role in rural communities of South Africa as an important source of animal protein and income. Despite these claimed benefits, production of indigenous chickens in Alice and other parts of South Africa’s rural areas is very low. This study used a cross-sectional survey of 120 households who keep IC in Alice communal area. The multivariate probit model was employed to investigate the factors that determine the choice of indigenous chicken owned by rural households. Results reveal that, gender, age, household size, association membership, access to formal markets, access to veterinary services, access to informal credit, access to formal credit and diversity score drive ownership of different indigenous chickens at household level. Thus far, the paper argues that, promotion of ownership of indigenous chicken at household level calls for strategic institutional alignment and a clear understanding of social demographic characteristics of the targeted community, which should be supported by several awareness campaigns and client based selection of indigenous chicken breeds of socio-economic importance to the household.

A genome-wide scan to identify signatures of selection in two Iranian indigenous chicken ecotypes

Background Various regions of the chicken genome have been under natural and artificial selection for thousands of years. The substantial diversity that exits among chickens from different geographic regions provides an excellent opportunity to investigate the genomic regions under selection which, in turn, will increase our knowledge about the mechanisms that underlie chicken diversity and adaptation. Several statistics have been developed to detect genomic regions that are under selection. In this study, we applied approaches based on differences in allele or haplotype frequencies (FST and hapFLK, respectively) between populations, differences in long stretches of consecutive homozygous sequences (ROH), and differences in allele frequencies within populations (composite likelihood ratio (CLR)) to identify inter- and intra-populations traces of selection in two Iranian indigenous chicken ecotypes, the Lari fighting chicken and the Khazak or creeper (short-leg) chicken. Results Using whole-genome resequencing data of 32 individuals from the two chicken ecotypes, approximately 11.9 million single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were detected and used in genomic analyses after quality processing. Examination of the distribution of ROH in the two populations indicated short to long ROH, ranging from 0.3 to 5.4 Mb. We found 90 genes that were detected by at least two of the four applied methods. Gene annotation of the detected putative regions under selection revealed candidate genes associated with growth (DCN, MEOX2 and CACNB1), reproduction (ESR1 and CALCR), disease resistance (S1PR1, ALPK1 and MHC-B), behavior pattern (AGMO, GNAO1 and PSEN1), and morphological traits (IHH and NHEJ1). Conclusions Our findings show that these two phenotypically different indigenous chicken populations have been under selection for reproduction, immune, behavioral, and morphology traits. The results illustrate that selection can play an important role in shaping signatures of differentiation across the genomic landscape of two chicken populations.