Abstract

Characterization of breeding practices of indigenous chicken of North Wollo was conducted from January 2011 to May 2012 with the aim to identifying farmers’ trait preferences of chicken, breeding objectives and priority areas of intervention. Focus group discussions were held, followed by a survey using semi-structured questionnaires. The survey revealed that both uncontrolled and controlled mating was practiced. Egg production, meat yield and disease resistance were the most preferred traits by farmers for further improvement. Based on flock size, production system, infrastructure availability, preferred traits and economic return, population settlement; roll mating and grading mate would be recommend to low altitude areas where as clan mating and breed out-out was the recommended breeding program to the mid altitude and high altitude study area.

Key words: Breeding objective, indigenous chicken, North Wollo, Ethiopia.