Review on Phenotypic Characterization of Indigenous Chicken and Farmer Breeding Trait Preference Ecotypes in Sekela Woreda, Northern Ethiopia

This study was conducted in Sekela woreda in Surba Bifeta and Gisha Abay kebeles to characterize chickens phenotypically. A total of 226 chicken owner households were selected randomly. Ten qualitative traits from 446 local chickens and eleven quantitative traits from 48 local chickens were used. The overall predominant plumage color of chicken in the study area were red (34.4%) followed by gray mixture (17.7%) and brownish (17.3%). The commonest comb color observed was red color combs. The majority of chickens possessed comb shape was double shape (44.6%), followed by single (38.8%) comb shape. Double comb shape was predominant in male chicken in Surba Bifeta than Gish Abay Sekela. The result indicated that crest head shape were the common predominant observed head shape in Surba Bifeta both female (40.5%) and male (32.8%). while flat plain head shape were highest proportion observed in Gish Abay both female (86.5%) and male (91.2%), thus there was significancely (p